What must a restaurant or bakery receipt and menu show under the sales tax law?

A restaurant or bakery bill has to carry the ordinary tax invoice particulars from section 23 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, and, where the business is integrated with FBR, a unique FBR invoice number and a printed QR code. Separately, the menu card or menu board has to show prices and the amount of tax separately. Each of these comes from a different provision.

What does section 23 require on every invoice?

Section 23(1) requires a registered person to issue a serially numbered tax invoice, in Urdu or English, containing:

Clause	Particular
(a)	Name, address and registration number of the supplier
(b)	Name, address and registration number of the recipient
(c)	Date of issue of invoice
(d)	Description and quantity of goods
(e)	Value exclusive of tax
(f)	Amount of sales tax
(g)	Value inclusive of tax

As amended by the Finance Act, 2026, section 23(1) also says a registered person making a taxable “as well as exempt supply” shall issue a tax invoice “bearing a verifiable and unique FBR invoice number”. A new proviso says that condition applies “from the time as notified by the Board”. Section 23(2) adds that no one other than a registered person or a person paying retail tax may issue an invoice under this section.

Clause (b) comes with an explanation defining an “ordinary consumer” as someone buying for his own consumption. The section as printed does not spell out how clause (b) applies to a walk-in diner, so this page does not fill that in.

What must an integrated restaurant’s receipt show?

Rule 150ZA brings registered restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, eateries, snack bars and hotels into Chapter XIV-A of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006. Rule 150ZB(3)(e) covers “printing and contents of sale invoice including printing of QR code and FBR fiscal invoice number thereon”, and rule 150ZB(3)(h) covers display of the FBR logo and banner text.

The detailed invoice content sits in Chapter XIV, which applies to integrated persons notified under rule 150Q(2):

• Rule 150R(4)(e): the point of sale must generate a QR code from the unique FBR invoice number and print it on the receipt.
• Rule 150R(13) lists what the electronic invoice contains, including the unique FBR invoice number (in the format XXXXXX-DDMMYYHHMMSS-0001), a 7x7 mm QR code, the POS software registration number, the logo of the FBR digital invoicing system, seller name, address and registration number, date, description, quantity, value exclusive of tax, sales tax rate and amount of sales tax. Its proviso says some items, such as further tax and SRO numbers, may not apply to a retailer issuing electronic invoices to the general public.
• Rule 150R(9) says exempt items are also invoiced through the integrated system.
• Rule 150R(11) requires a signboard with FBR’s logo, the text “Integrated with FBR” and the POS registration number, verifiable through the Board’s verification services.

How long must the records be kept?

Rule 150S(1) requires an integrated person to issue “a real-time verifiable electronic sales tax invoice for every taxable supply and service” and to retain it for six years on electronic media, as provided in section 24 of the Act. Rule 150S(2) applies the same to debit and credit notes, and rule 150S(3) covers online sales. Rule 150XB then lets the buyer check on the Board’s website whether the invoice reached the Board’s system.

What must the menu show?

Rule 150ZB(4) says it is “mandatory for all the restaurants, bakeries, caterers and sweetmeat shops supplying prepared food, foodstuff and sweetmeats to show prices and amount of tax separately on menu cards or menu board displayed in their outlets for the end consumers”. Footnote 251 in the consolidated rules says this sub-rule was inserted in May 2020.

This is wider than Chapter XIV-A’s list in rule 150ZA, because it names bakeries, caterers and sweetmeat shops as well.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Sana runs a bakery-cafe in Blue Area, Islamabad, that is registered and integrated. A customer orders a club sandwich and a cold coffee and pays by debit card. For a restaurant or cafe in Islamabad, serial 1(ii) of Table-1 of the Schedule to the Islamabad Capital Territory (Tax on Services) Ordinance, 2001 sets five percent where payment is received by card, mobile wallet or QR scanning. The menu prices are made up:

Menu line	Price	Tax at 5%	Total
Club sandwich	Rs. 900	Rs. 45	Rs. 945
Cold coffee	Rs. 500	Rs. 25	Rs. 525

Rule 150ZB(4) asks for the price and the tax to be shown separately, rather than a single figure of Rs. 945. The same serial sets fifteen percent where payment is received in cash, so on a cash payment the tax on the sandwich would be Rs. 135. The rule does not say how a menu should present two rates that depend on payment mode.

The card receipt should carry Sana’s name, address and registration number, the date, each item and quantity, Rs. 1,400 value exclusive of tax, Rs. 70 tax and Rs. 1,470 inclusive, plus the FBR invoice number and QR code from her POS.

Outside Islamabad, the tax on a restaurant meal is charged under provincial law that this corpus does not hold, so no provincial rate is given here.

What if …?

What if the internet is down? Rule 150XC says invoices issued during a software, internet or power failure must be clearly identified as offline invoices and uploaded within 24 hours of restoration.

What if the bakery only sells exempt bread? Section 23(1) now speaks of taxable “as well as exempt” supply, and rule 150R(9) says exempt items are also invoiced through the integrated system.

Common mistakes

• Showing only a tax-inclusive price on the menu. Rule 150ZB(4) asks for price and tax separately.
• Thinking the menu rule covers only restaurants. It names bakeries, caterers and sweetmeat shops too.
• Relying on rule 150ZB(3) alone for invoice content. It applies rules 150ZEB, 150ZEC and 150ZEG, which do not appear in the rules as amended to 30 June 2025. The current invoice content is in rule 150R(13).

What to check in the official text

Read section 23 of the Sales Tax Act as amended to 30 June 2026, and rules 150R, 150S, 150XB, 150ZA and 150ZB of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006 as amended to 30 June 2025. Check any Board notification under the new proviso to section 23(1) on when the FBR invoice number condition applies, and any notification under rule 150Q(2) naming your class of business.