Your average income tax rate per rupee earned.
Effective tax rate
—
Total tax
—
Income after tax
—
The rate that actually leaves your pocket
People talk about their tax rate as if it were one number, usually the top slab their salary reaches. That number overstates what you pay. Pakistan taxes income in progressive slabs, so the first PKR 600,000 is exempt, the next band is taxed lightly, and only the rupees above each threshold meet the higher rates. Your effective tax rate is the honest figure: total tax divided by total taxable income. This tool computes it for a salaried earner or a business and AOP filer under the FY 2025-26 rate card the calculator applies, and it folds in the 9% surcharge where income crosses PKR 10 million. It is for anyone who wants to know the real bite, not the headline slab, when comparing offers or planning a year.
A PKR 3 million salary, slab by slab
Take the default: PKR 3 million of annual taxable salary. The calculator walks the salaried slabs in floor-of-band form. The first PKR 600,000 is taxed at zero. The PKR 600,000 to PKR 1,200,000 band is taxed at the 1% the tool currently applies, giving PKR 6,000. The PKR 1,200,000 to PKR 2,200,000 band at 11% adds PKR 110,000. The remaining PKR 800,000, from PKR 2,200,000 up to PKR 3,000,000, sits in the 23% band and adds PKR 184,000. Total tax is PKR 300,000, take-home is PKR 2,700,000, and the effective rate is exactly 10%. Notice the gap: the top slab this income touches is 23%, but the rate you actually pay is 10%. These slab rates reset every Finance Act, so confirm the current bands with the FBR.
| Income band | Rate applied | Tax |
|---|
Effective versus marginal, and why both matter
Keep two numbers straight. Your marginal rate is what the next rupee is taxed at, the slab you are sitting in, which the companion marginal rate tool reports. Your effective rate, shown here, is the blended average across all your rupees. The marginal rate tells you whether a raise or a bonus is worth chasing after tax. The effective rate tells you what share of your whole income actually goes to the FBR. At PKR 3 million the two are 23% and 10%, a wide gap, because so much of your income is taxed in the lower bands or not at all. As income rises the effective rate creeps toward the marginal rate but never reaches it, since the exempt slice and the low early bands always pull the average down.
Salaried, business, and the surcharge switch
The income type toggle is not cosmetic. Salaried filers, those whose salary is more than three quarters of their taxable income, get the gentler rate card. Business income and AOPs face a steeper schedule that the calculator applies separately, reaching higher rates sooner, which is why a freelancer and a salaried employee on the same PKR 3 million can owe very different tax. On top of either, the calculator adds a surcharge of 9% of the tax payable once taxable income exceeds PKR 10 million. That surcharge is a percentage of the tax, not of income, so it lifts the effective rate by a smaller amount than the headline 9% suggests. Both the slab structure and the surcharge rate are set by the annual Finance Act, so verify the current figures with the FBR before relying on them.
A planning tip and a frequent error
Use the effective rate, not the slab, when you compare two job offers or weigh a salaried role against freelance work. A higher gross with a higher marginal slab can still leave more in hand once the average is worked out. The most common error is feeding gross salary into a slab tool and treating the answer as your real burden. Two things break that: the slabs are progressive, and your taxable income is usually lower than your gross once allowable deductions and exemptions are applied. Compute tax on taxable income, then divide by taxable income, which is exactly what this tool does.
Does the effective rate include EOBI or provident fund?
No. This calculator measures income tax only, including the surcharge where it applies. It does not include EOBI contributions, provident fund deductions, or Zakat, which are separate items with their own rules. To see your full take-home after all of those, use the take-home salary tool rather than reading the effective rate as your total deduction.
Why is my effective rate lower than a colleague's on similar pay?
Usually because of the income type and the deductions each of you claims. A salaried filer is taxed on the lighter card, while business income runs higher. Differences in taxable income, after exemptions and allowable expenses, also move the average. Two people with the same gross can land at different effective rates once those are applied.