Pak­istan Medical Association warns of ‘shutdown’ over FBR’s tax system for clinics

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ISLAMABAD: The Pak­istan Medical Association (PMA) has opposed the Federal Board of Reve­nu­e’s (FBR) proposed mandatory Point of Sale (POS) integration for doctors’ clinics, warning that healthcare facilities across the country could be shut down if the tax authority did not withdraw what it described as “bureaucratic overreach”. The warning comes days after the FBR issued a notification directing a wide range of service providers and businesses to digitally integrate their operations with the tax authority’s system through electronic invoicing hardware and software to improve documentation and widen the tax base. The notified categories include restaurants, hotels, courier services, beauty salons, gyms, private schools and colleges, and a broad spectrum of medical service providers — including clinics, diagnostic laboratories and private hospitals. Under the notification, no taxable supply or service is to be made except through integrated outlets, with real-time verifiable electronic invoices to be issued and records retained for six years. A PMA delegation met FBR Chairman Rashid Mah­mood Langrial to convey the medical community’s objections to the proposed tax enforcement measures. According to the PMA, the association told the FBR chairman that healthcare was an essential professional service rather than a commercial retail activity and argued that treating doctors’ clinics as retail outlets through mandatory POS integration was legally unjustified and the move undermined the medical profession. In a statement issued after the meeting, PMA Secretary General Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro termed the attitude of tax authorities “rigid” and said the medical fraternity would have “no option except to shut down healthcare facilities across the country and explore other jobs” if the FBR continued to impose POS systems and ignored judicial decisions. Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2026

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