Is capital gains tax on shares higher if I am not on the Active Taxpayers List?

Whether you appear on the Active Taxpayers’ List (ATL) can change the tax on your share gains, but only for shares bought on or after 1 July 2024. The rules are in Division VII of Part I of the First Schedule to the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, as amended to 30 June 2026, and apply to disposals in tax year 2027.

What does the law say?

Section 37A charges the gain on disposal of securities at the Division VII rates. Column (4) of the Division VII table, for securities acquired on or after 1 July 2024, sets two routes:

• 15% for persons appearing on the Active Taxpayers’ List on the date of acquisition and the date of disposal of the securities.
• The rate specified in Division I for individuals and associations of persons, and Division II for companies, for persons not appearing on the list on the date of acquisition and date of disposal.

A proviso inside column (4) adds that for individuals and associations of persons not on the list, “the rate of tax shall not be less than 15% in any case.”

Section 100BA separately says that tax for a person not appearing on the active taxpayers’ list, and for persons on the list who have not filed their return by the due date, “shall be determined in accordance with the rules in the Tenth Schedule.”

How does it work in practice?

Your status	Shares bought on or after 1 July 2024
On the ATL on the purchase date and the sale date	15% flat
Individual or AOP not on the ATL on both dates	Division I rates, minimum 15%
Company not on the ATL on both dates	Division II rate

The flat 15% is the lowest outcome for an individual. A person off the list pays at least 15%, and more if the Division I rate that applies is higher. The ATL test uses two dates, so someone who joins the list after buying shares does not meet the 15% wording for that lot, even if they are on the list when they sell.

How are Division I rates applied to a share gain?

The law leaves this unclear. Section 37A(4) says the gain “shall be treated as a separate block of income”, and column (4) points to “the rate specified in Division I”. Division I is a slab table for taxable income. The text in this corpus does not say whether the slabs are applied to the share gain alone or to the gain together with other income. This page does not resolve that, and gives no computed Division I figure.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Kamran, a trader in Gujranwala, buys shares on 2 September 2024 and sells them on 10 February 2027 for a gain of Rs. 400,000.

If he was on the ATL on both dates:

• Rs. 400,000 x 15% = Rs. 60,000.

If he was not on the ATL on 2 September 2024, or on 10 February 2027:

• The rate is the Division I rate, but never below 15%.
• Minimum tax: Rs. 400,000 x 15% = Rs. 60,000.
• The actual figure is Rs. 60,000 or more, depending on how the Division I rate works out for him.

The same two dates decide the outcome for each lot, so Kamran could have one lot at 15% and another lot under the Division I route.

What about shares bought before 1 July 2024?

Column (3), for securities acquired from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024, and the first proviso, for earlier purchases, do not make any distinction based on the list. The Tenth Schedule is the separate question. Rule 1 says that where tax is “deducted or collected” from a person not on the list, the rate “shall be increased by hundred percent”. Rule 10 lists taxes to which the Schedule does not apply. Its sub-rule (y), which excluded “tax collected under section 37A on disposal of securities acquired on and from 1st day of July, 2025”, was omitted by the Finance Act, 2026. The corpus does not state how rule 1 now interacts with the Division VII rates for any purchase date, and this page does not settle it.

Common mistakes

• Assuming 15% for everyone. Column (4) gives the flat 15% only to persons on the list on both dates.
• Checking the list only on the sale date. The acquisition date counts equally.
• Treating 15% as the non-filer maximum. For individuals and AOPs off the list, 15% is the floor, not the ceiling.
• Forgetting late filers. Section 100BA extends the Tenth Schedule regime to persons on the list who have not filed their return by the due date.

What to check in the official text

Read section 37A, section 100BA, column (4) of the Division VII table and its proviso, and rules 1 and 10 of the Tenth Schedule in the official PDF. Confirm your ATL status on both the purchase and sale dates for each lot. The Division I and Division II rate tables are separate parts of the First Schedule, and how the NCCPL applies them is governed by the Eighth Schedule.