Can I get back tax that was deducted in Pakistan while I was a non-resident?

What does the law say?

Four parts of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 decide whether tax deducted from you can come back.

• Section 168(1)(b) treats tax collected or deducted under the withholding provisions as “tax paid by the person from whom the tax was collected or deducted.”
• Section 168(2) gives that person a tax credit for it “in computing the tax due by the person on the taxable income of the person for the tax year in which the tax was collected or deducted.”
• Section 168(5) says credit that cannot be used against the year’s tax “shall be refunded to the taxpayer in accordance with section 170.”
• Section 170(1) lets a taxpayer who has paid more than the amount properly chargeable apply to the Commissioner for a refund of the excess.

Being a non-resident does not switch these rules off. What matters is whether the particular deduction is adjustable, which means it counts toward your final bill, or final, which means it settles the tax on that income by itself.

Which deductions are final and so usually not refunded?

Section 168(3) says no tax credit is allowed for tax that is final under the provisions it lists. Section 169 sets out what happens to final tax, and section 169(2)(e) says “there shall be no refund of the tax collected or deducted” unless it is more than the amount for which the taxpayer is chargeable.

Two property provisos matter most to overseas Pakistanis:

• Selling property, section 236C. Advance tax collected from a seller is adjustable under section 236C(2). A proviso to section 236C(1) changes this for a non-resident individual holding a POC, NICOP or CNIC who acquired the property through a Foreign Currency Value Account (FCVA) or NRP Rupee Value Account (NRVA). For that seller the tax collected is a final discharge of tax liability in place of capital gains tax on the disposal.
• Buying property, section 236K. Advance tax collected from a buyer is adjustable under section 236K(2). The proviso says that for a non-resident POC, NICOP or CNIC holder who acquired the property through an FCVA or NRVA, the tax “shall be final discharge of tax liability for such buyer or transferee.”

A second proviso to section 236C(2) makes the tax a minimum tax where the property is bought and sold in the same tax year.

What about tax on bank profit?

Section 151(1)(b) requires a bank that pays profit on an account or deposit to deduct tax from the gross profit at the Division IA rate. Section 151(3) calls that deduction a minimum tax, except where the taxpayer is a company or the profit is taxed under the separate profit-on-debt charge in the Ordinance. The Ordinance does not spell out in section 151 how a minimum-tax deduction interacts with a refund claim, and this page does not decide that question. The Division IA rates themselves are in the First Schedule and are not reproduced here.

What if I was charged the higher non-filer rate?

Section 169(4) deals with final tax collected at the higher rate for people not on the active taxpayers’ list. The final tax is the First Schedule rate, and the excess collected under the Tenth Schedule “shall be adjustable in case the return is filed before finalization of assessment as provided in rule 4 of the Tenth Schedule.” Filing a return is therefore the route to recovering that difference.

How does a refund claim work?

1. File the return for the tax year in which the tax was deducted, so the credit under section 168(2) can be set against your tax.
2. Apply under section 170(2) in the prescribed form, verified in the prescribed manner, within three years of the later of the assessment order for that year and the date the tax was paid.
3. Decision. Section 170(4) requires a written order within sixty days, after giving you a chance to be heard.
4. Set-off first. Under section 170(3), the Commissioner applies the excess against any other income tax you owe, then against other outstanding taxes, and refunds the rest.
5. Appeal. Section 170(5) allows an appeal against the order, or against a failure to pass one in time.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Sana lives in Dubai and is not resident in Pakistan. In tax year 2027 she sells a plot in Rawalpindi that she had bought from her ordinary Pakistani rupee account, not through an FCVA or NRVA. The amounts are invented.

Item	Amount
Advance tax collected from her under section 236C	Rs. 450,000
Her tax liability for the year, as computed in her return	Rs. 200,000

1. The tax collected is adjustable, so section 168(2) gives a credit of Rs. 450,000.
2. Tax due after the credit: Rs. 200,000 - Rs. 450,000 = a surplus of Rs. 250,000.
3. Section 168(5) sends the unused Rs. 250,000 to section 170, and she can apply for it as a refund.

If she had bought the plot through her NRVA, the section 236C proviso would make the Rs. 450,000 a final discharge in place of capital gains tax, and section 169(2)(e) would bar a refund unless the tax exceeded the amount chargeable.

Common mistakes

• Expecting a refund without a return. The credit under section 168(2) is given in computing tax for the year, which happens through the return.
• Treating all property tax as refundable. The FCVA and NRVA provisos in sections 236C and 236K make it final for the people they describe.
• Waiting too long. The three-year limit in section 170(2) runs from the later of the assessment order and the payment date.

What to check in the official text

Read sections 168, 169, 170, 151, 236C and 236K of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 as amended to 30 June 2026. The rates in Divisions IA, X and XVIII of the First Schedule and the Tenth Schedule rules are in the official PDF. The prescribed refund form and FBR’s online filing steps are not in this corpus.