When is a distributor's monthly sales tax return due and what are the penalties for filing or paying late?

A registered distributor files one sales tax return for each month, and three separate dates sit around it: when the sales data is uploaded, when the tax is paid, and when the return is submitted. Missing any of them has a price set in the Sales Tax Act, 1990.

What does the law say about the due date?

Section 26(1) requires every registered person to furnish, not later than the due date, a true, complete and correct return showing purchases, supplies, tax due and tax paid for a tax period. Section 2(43) defines the tax period as one month unless the Board specifies otherwise.

Section 2(9) defines the due date as the 15th day of the month following the end of the tax period, or another date the Board notifies. Since the Finance Act, 2016, different dates may be set for different parts or annexures of the return.

Rule 18 of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006 fills in the timetable:

Step	Rule	Date
Upload sales data in Annexure-C and debit or credit notes in Annexure-I	18(3)	By the 10th of the following month
Deposit the tax due	18(9)	By the 15th
Submit the return electronically	18(9)	By the 18th of the same month

Rule 18(1) also treats a return as invalid if relevant data is left blank in any applicable column or annexure. Under the second proviso to rule 18(3), a buyer’s return stays provisional until its seller files by the last day of the month in which the due date falls.

What are the penalties for filing or paying late?

The section 33 Table sets these amounts, as amended by the Finance Act, 2026:

S. No.	Offence	Penalty
1	Failing to furnish a return within the due date	Rs. 50,000; if filed within ten days of the due date, Rs. 2,000 for each day of default
5	Failing to deposit tax due in the time or manner laid down	Rs. 50,000 or 5% of the tax involved, whichever is higher; if paid within ten days of the due date, Rs. 5,000 for each day of default
6	Repeating an erroneous calculation in the return during a year, so that less tax is paid	Rs. 5,000 or 3% of the tax involved, whichever is higher

S. No. 5 has two further provisos. No penalty is imposed for a miscalculation made for the first time in a year. If tax is still unpaid sixty days after a notice from an officer not below Assistant Commissioner, the defaulter may, on conviction by a Special Judge, face imprisonment up to three years, a fine up to the tax involved, or both.

What is default surcharge?

Section 34(1)(a) adds default surcharge on unpaid tax at 12% per annum or KIBOR plus 3% per annum, whichever is higher. Section 34(2)(b) counts the period from the 16th day of a month following the due date of the tax period to the day before the tax is actually paid. Tax fraud attracts 2% per month instead, under section 34(1)(c). The Act does not state a KIBOR figure, so this site cannot say which limb is higher in a given month.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Chaudhry Distributors in Gujranwala owes Rs. 800,000 of sales tax for the March 2027 tax period. The due date is 15 April 2027. It pays and files on 5 May 2027, twenty days after the due date. The amounts and dates are invented, and the example assumes 12% is the higher limb in section 34.

1. Late return (S. No. 1): more than ten days late, so the flat Rs. 50,000 applies.
2. Late payment (S. No. 5): 5% of Rs. 800,000 = Rs. 40,000. The floor is Rs. 50,000, so Rs. 50,000 applies.
3. Default surcharge: 16 April to 4 May is 19 days. Rs. 800,000 x 12% = Rs. 96,000 a year. Rs. 96,000 x 19 / 365 = Rs. 4,997 (rounded).
4. Total over the tax: Rs. 50,000 + Rs. 50,000 + Rs. 4,997 = Rs. 104,997.

Variation. If it had paid and filed on 22 April, seven days after the due date: S. No. 1 gives 7 x Rs. 2,000 = Rs. 14,000, and S. No. 5 gives 7 x Rs. 5,000 = Rs. 35,000. The Table does not say whether the return penalty is counted from the 15th in section 2(9) or the 18th in rule 18(9), and this site does not settle that point.

What if the distributor needs more time?

Section 26AB lets the registered person apply to the Commissioner by the due date for an extension. The Commissioner may grant up to fifteen days for absence from Pakistan, sickness or other reasonable cause, and the Chief Commissioner may grant a further period. Section 26AB(5) says the extension does not move the payment date for default surcharge.

Common mistakes

• Treating the 18th as the payment date. Rule 18(9) requires the tax by the 15th; only the return moves to the 18th.
• Assuming a late return with tax paid costs nothing. S. No. 1 applies to the return itself.
• Ignoring two missed months. Section 2(1A)(b) removes active taxpayer status after two consecutive late returns.

What to check in the official text

Read sections 2(9), 26, 26AB and 34 of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 as amended to 30 June 2026, and S. Nos. 1, 5 and 6 of the section 33 Table in the official PDF. Then read rule 18 of the Sales Tax Rules, 2006, held here as amended to 30 June 2025. Any Board notification setting a different due date for your class of persons is not held on this site.