Can tax paid on my mobile bill or electricity bill be adjusted against my salary tax, and can my employer take it into account?

What does the law say?

Three parts of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 work together here.

Section 149(1) sets how your employer deducts tax from salary. The employer deducts at your average rate, worked out on your estimated salary income for the year using the salaried rates in Division I of Part I of the First Schedule, “after making adjustment of tax withheld from employee under other heads” and certain tax credits, “after obtaining documentary evidence”. The adjustment covers tax withheld from you under the Ordinance during the tax year, any excess or short deduction earlier in the year, and any failure to deduct.

Section 168 is the general rule on credit. Tax collected under Chapter XII (the chapter that contains sections 235 and 236) is treated as tax paid by the person it was collected from, and that person gets a tax credit for it in the tax year it was collected. The exception is tax that the Ordinance makes a final tax; section 168(3) lists those, and sections 235 and 236 are not in the list printed in the text amended to 30 June 2026. Section 168(5) adds that any credit that cannot be used in the year is refunded to the taxpayer.

Sections 235 and 236 are where the bill taxes come from:

Bill	Section	What the text says about adjustment
Electricity (commercial, industrial or domestic)	235	For a taxpayer other than a company, tax collected up to a bill amount of Rs. 360,000 a year is minimum tax with no refund, and tax collected “on monthly bill over and above thirty thousand rupees per month shall be adjustable” (section 235(4)).
Mobile, landline, internet, prepaid cards and units	236	Section 236 itself says nothing about adjustment. The credit comes from section 168, because section 236 is not listed as a final tax in section 168(3).

How does it work in practice?

Mobile and internet. Division V of Part IV of the First Schedule sets the collection rate at 15% of the amount of bill or the sale price of prepaid cards or units for mobile and internet subscribers. For a landline subscriber whose monthly bill exceeds Rs. 1,000, the rate is 10% of the amount of the bill. A proviso raises the mobile and internet rate to 75% for persons named in an income tax general order issued under the Ordinance’s powers to enforce filing of returns. Because this tax is creditable under section 168, it can be set off against your salary tax, either by your employer under section 149 or in your return.

Electricity. Section 235(1) has a proviso that matters to most salaried filers: the advance tax does not apply to a domestic consumer whose name is on the Active Taxpayers’ List. If you are on that list, there should be no income tax on your home electricity bill to adjust. If you are not, section 235(4) splits the tax: the part tied to bills up to Rs. 360,000 a year is minimum tax, and only the tax on monthly bills above Rs. 30,000 is adjustable. The text does not spell out whether “over and above thirty thousand rupees” means the whole tax on any bill above that figure or only the tax on the excess, so this page does not settle that point.

Evidence. Section 149 speaks of “documentary evidence”. The law does not list which documents qualify, so what an employer accepts is not settled by the text.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Ayesha works for a software firm in Lahore. Her salary is Rs. 200,000 a month, Rs. 2,400,000 for tax year 2027, and she has no other income. Her postpaid mobile bill is Rs. 3,000 a month before tax.

1. Salary tax for the year. Under the Division I, clause (2) table for tax year 2027, income between Rs. 2,200,000 and Rs. 3,200,000 is taxed at Rs. 116,000 plus 20% of the amount above Rs. 2,200,000. Rs. 116,000 + 20% of Rs. 200,000 = Rs. 116,000 + Rs. 40,000 = Rs. 156,000, or Rs. 13,000 a month if spread evenly.
2. Mobile bill tax. 15% of Rs. 3,000 = Rs. 450 a month, Rs. 5,400 for the year.
3. Adjustment in January. After six months her employer has deducted 6 x Rs. 13,000 = Rs. 78,000. Ayesha gives the employer her July to December bills showing Rs. 2,700 of tax. The tax still to be deducted becomes Rs. 156,000 - Rs. 78,000 - Rs. 2,700 = Rs. 75,300, which is Rs. 12,550 a month for the last six months.
4. Year end. Salary deductions total Rs. 78,000 + Rs. 75,300 = Rs. 153,300. Add Rs. 5,400 collected on the phone bill and the total is Rs. 158,700, which is Rs. 2,700 more than her Rs. 156,000 liability. That Rs. 2,700 (January to June bill tax she never showed her employer) is a credit under section 168 that she can claim in her return, and any credit left unused is refunded as section 168(5) provides.

The law does not fix how an employer spreads the adjustment over the remaining months; step 3 shows one straightforward way.

What if my name is not on the Active Taxpayers’ List?

Then section 235 tax can appear on your home electricity bill, and for mobile and internet you may face the 75% rate if you are named in one of those general orders. The electricity tax up to Rs. 360,000 of bills a year stays a minimum tax and is not refunded, even if your salary tax is already fully paid.

What if I have an exemption certificate?

Section 236(4) says the advance tax is not collected from a person who produces a certificate from the Commissioner that his income for the tax year is exempt. Section 235(3) has a similar certificate rule for electricity.

Common mistakes

• Assuming every rupee on the electricity bill is adjustable. Section 235(4)(a) makes the tax on the first Rs. 360,000 of annual bills a minimum tax for individuals.
• Expecting the employer to adjust without proof. Section 149(1) ties the adjustment to documentary evidence.
• Thinking unadjusted bill tax is lost. Section 168 gives the credit for the tax year of collection, whether or not the employer used it.
• Claiming a family member’s bill. Section 168(1)(b) treats the tax as paid by “the person from whom the tax was collected”. The Ordinance text does not address bills in another person’s name.

What to check in the official text

Read section 149(1) for the adjustment wording, section 168(1) to (5) for the credit and refund rule, section 235(1) and (4) for the electricity split, and section 236 with Division V of Part IV of the First Schedule for the phone and internet rates. The current Division IV electricity rate table is not clearly reproduced in our copy of the consolidated text, so check it in the official PDF before relying on a specific electricity rate.