Estimated annual income tax split into four quarterly installments.
Each quarterly installment
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Annual tax
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Remaining after tax paid
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Your breakdown
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Why Pakistan asks you to pay tax before you file
Most people picture income tax as a single bill that arrives with the return. Section 147 of the Income Tax Ordinance turns that on its head for anyone with meaningful income outside fully withheld salary. The state wants its revenue spread across the year rather than landing in one lump at filing, so it asks you to estimate the tax you will owe and pay it in four pieces as the year unfolds. This is advance tax, and it is the reason a profitable sole proprietor or company can face a payment demand in September even though the return is months away. The structure has been stable for years even as the slab rates inside it change every June, so it is worth understanding once and reusing every cycle.
This tool is built for the people who actually carry that obligation: business individuals, freelancers earning outside the final-tax regime, AOPs, and salaried taxpayers with side income that pushes them past pure payroll withholding. You feed it a realistic estimate of your annual income, tell it whether the income sits on the salaried or the business slab card, and subtract any tax already deducted at source or paid. What comes back is the size of each quarterly cheque you should be budgeting for.
How the four installments are built
The logic runs in three moves. First, the tool estimates your full-year income tax from the slab card you select. For business income it also adds the high-income surcharge that applies once taxable income crosses a threshold. Second, it credits the tax you have already paid, because advance tax is only meant to cover the gap, not double-charge money the system has already collected through withholding. Third, it divides that remaining liability by four to give an even quarterly figure. Real FBR practice trues up each installment against income actually earned to date and against the prior year's assessed tax, but an even split is the right planning number to set aside, and it stops the final quarter from becoming a shock.
One judgement call matters more than any rate: your income estimate. Advance tax is forward-looking, so a conservative guess understates the installments and a punchy guess ties up cash you could be using. Revisit the figure mid-year once you can see how revenue is tracking, and adjust the remaining quarters rather than letting a stale estimate ride.
A salaried earner on PKR 5 million, quarter by quarter
Take a salaried taxpayer estimating PKR 5,000,000 for the year, with no tax paid yet, using the rates this calculator applies. The salaried slab card builds the annual tax band by band: nothing on the first PKR 600,000, then 1 percent, 11 percent, 23 percent, 30 percent and finally 35 percent on the slice above PKR 4,100,000. That sums to PKR 931,000 of annual tax. With nothing paid so far, the whole amount is still outstanding, and dividing by four gives an installment of PKR 232,750 each quarter.
A common mistake that triggers default surcharge
The slip that catches people is forgetting to credit tax already withheld, then overpaying, or the reverse: assuming withholding covers everything and skipping installments altogether. If you are a salaried person whose entire tax is deducted by the employer, your advance obligation is usually nil and this tool will show a small or zero installment. The danger zone is mixed income, where payroll withholding handles the salary but the consultancy or rental cash on the side is not fully covered. Underpay an installment and the FBR can levy a default surcharge on the shortfall for the period it stayed unpaid, which quietly raises your real cost of being late.
Do companies pay advance tax on the same quarterly basis?
Companies and AOPs also fall under the advance-tax regime, though companies follow their own computation tied to turnover and the prior year's tax, and they file an estimate that the FBR can revise. This tool is sized for the individual and AOP case. If you run a company, treat the figure here as a planning sketch and confirm the corporate installment formula and due dates with your tax adviser or the FBR.
What happens if my income comes in lower than I estimated?
You are not locked into the estimate. If trading slows and your real income falls below the projection, you can revise the estimate downward and reduce the later installments accordingly, then reconcile everything at filing where excess advance tax becomes a refundable or carry-forward credit. The reverse also holds: a strong second half means you should top up rather than coast on an outdated low estimate. Always verify the current installment due dates and any revision procedure with the FBR for the year you are filing.