FBR Digital Invoicing for Solar Panel Dealers & Installers (2026)
How solar panel shops, importers and installers issue FBR digital invoices: 10% panel rate, 18% on inverters and batteries, reduced-rate fields and common errors.
What this guide tells you
In short: if you sell or install solar panels, inverters or batteries in Pakistan and you are registered for sales tax, every sale must go to FBR as a digital invoice (an invoice your software sends to FBR's system the moment you make it, which comes back with an FBR number and a QR code). This guide explains which tax rate goes on each item, which extra fields FBR wants for solar panels, and the errors solar sellers hit most.
Two numbers matter most. Imported solar panels carry a 10% sales tax under the Finance Act 2025 (the government first proposed 18%, then cut it to 10% after pushback), and the Budget 2026-27 kept that 10% unchanged. Inverters, batteries, mounting structures, cables and installation services are not covered by the 10% rate; they are charged at the standard 18% unless a separate notification says otherwise.
The rule that brings you in: SRO 1852(I)/2025 (an SRO is a Statutory Regulatory Order — a legal notice FBR issues under the Sales Tax Act) put every sales-tax-registered person on the Digital Invoicing list by 31 December 2025. So a solar shop in Lahore, a solar importer in Karachi and a rooftop installer in Islamabad are all covered, whatever their size.
Who in the solar trade must send digital invoices
Solar importers: you clear containers of panels and inverters and sell to dealers. You were in the very first group (from 1 September 2025 for public companies, large firms and importers). Importers also have the most to lose: FBR has linked non-integration to the loss of green channel clearance at the port. Our guide 'FBR Digital Invoicing for Importers: Green Channel at Risk from July 2026' explains that risk.
Solar dealers and shops: you buy from importers and sell panels, inverters and batteries to homes, shops and factories. Most of your buyers are unregistered (a person or shop that has no sales tax number). That changes two things on the invoice: the buyer type must be 'Unregistered', and further tax may apply on some items. See 'Registered vs Unregistered Buyers on FBR Invoices: Registration Type, Further Tax and ATL Checks'.
Installers and EPC firms (EPC — engineering, procurement and construction, meaning you supply the goods and do the fitting): you bill both goods and a service. Goods go on the FBR sales tax invoice. The installation service is usually taxed by your province (Punjab Revenue Authority, Sindh Revenue Board or KP Revenue Authority), not by FBR. Many installers put the goods on the FBR digital invoice and the labour on a separate provincial services invoice. If you are not sure which body taxes your service, ask your tax adviser before you set up your item list.
Which rate and which sale type for each solar item
Solar panels (photovoltaic modules): 10% sales tax. This is a reduced rate, so in the FBR invoice the sale type (the category FBR uses to check your tax maths) is 'Goods at Reduced Rate', not the default standard-rate type. Reduced-rate items must carry an SRO or Schedule number and an item serial number (the Eighth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act lists reduced-rate goods). Leave those blank and FBR rejects the line with error 0077 or 0078.
Inverters, lithium and lead-acid batteries, charge controllers, mounting structures, DC cables and breakers: 18% standard rate, sale type 'Goods at standard rate (default)'. FBR then checks that your sales tax equals the value excluding tax multiplied by 18% (rounded to two decimals). If the two do not match, you get error 0104. Our guide 'How Sales Tax Is Calculated on an FBR Digital Invoice: The Formulas FBR Actually Validates' shows the sums.
One more field trips up solar sellers: extra tax. For reduced-rate lines FBR wants the extra tax field sent empty, not as zero. Send a number there and you get error 0091. Good software handles this for you; if you post through your own system, check the payload for the 10% panel lines. Also, panels and inverters use different HS codes (the customs code that classifies each product) and each HS code allows only certain units of measure (error 0099 if wrong), so keep one item master per product with its HS code and unit fixed.
A sample solar invoice, line by line
Say a Lahore dealer sells a 5 kW home system to a house owner. Line 1: ten 550-watt panels at Rs 20,000 each = Rs 200,000 excluding tax, sale type Goods at Reduced Rate, rate 10%, sales tax Rs 20,000, SRO/Schedule and serial filled in, extra tax empty. Line 2: one 5 kW hybrid inverter Rs 150,000, standard rate 18%, sales tax Rs 27,000. Line 3: two batteries Rs 240,000, standard rate 18%, sales tax Rs 43,200. Buyer type Unregistered, with the buyer's CNIC if they give it.
When you post this to FBR you get back a 22-digit FBR invoice number (the IRN — Invoice Reference Number, the unique number FBR gives every invoice) and a QR code. Both must print on the bill you hand over, with the FBR Digital Invoicing logo, QR at 1 × 1 inch. 'FBR Digital Invoicing Logo & QR Code: Print Rules, Sizes and Where to Get Them' has the sizes.
Before you go live, FBR makes you pass sandbox testing (sandbox — FBR's free practice system where test invoices do not count as real). A solar dealer usually needs scenario SN001 (standard rate to a registered buyer), SN002 (standard rate to an unregistered buyer) and SN005 (reduced rate). An importer may need more. 'FBR Digital Invoicing Sandbox Testing Scenarios (SN001–SN028) Explained' lists them all.
Common problems for solar businesses and how to avoid them
Problem one: mixed rates on one invoice. Panels at 10% and inverters at 18% are fine on the same invoice, but each line must carry its own sale type and rate. If your software applies one rate to the whole bill, the 10% lines fail. Fix: build your item list with the rate saved against each product, so the cashier never types a rate.
Problem two: net-metering and government tenders. A DISCO (the electricity distribution company, such as LESCO or K-Electric) or a government office is a registered buyer and may withhold sales tax at source. The withheld amount must be either zero or the full sales tax on the line (error 0008 if it is anything in between). Ask for the buyer's NTN and check it on the FBR portal before you post.
Problem three: returns and warranty swaps. If a customer returns a faulty inverter, you cannot delete the posted invoice. Within 72 hours you may cancel it on the IRIS portal; after that you issue a credit or debit note against the original FBR number. Also remember the 10% monthly cap: all cancellations and edits in a month may not exceed 10% of last month's sales value. If you want a system that stores each product with its HS code, rate, sale type and SRO serial, and turns FBR error codes into plain-words fixes, Digi Invoice does that; see 'FBR Digital Invoicing Error Codes: The Complete Reference (0001–0402)', then 'How to Register for FBR Digital Invoicing (Step by Step)' to get started. Create a free account and post your first solar invoice today.
Difficult words in this guide
Reduced rate — a sales tax rate lower than the normal 18%; imported solar panels are charged 10% under the Finance Act 2025.
Sale type — the category on each invoice line (for example 'Goods at Reduced Rate') that tells FBR how to check your tax maths.
HS code — a customs code that identifies a product; solar panels, inverters and batteries each have their own.
Unregistered buyer — a customer with no sales tax registration number, such as a house owner buying a rooftop system.
Withheld at source — when a government or large buyer keeps back the sales tax and pays it to FBR itself instead of paying it to you.