Tax term

Withholding tax

Tax deducted or collected at the time of a payment or transaction.

Deducted at source, withholding appears on a Pakistani payslip as the income-tax line your employer remits, and on a bank or vehicle document as tax collected from a payment. Whether that amount closes the matter depends on the provision applied. Some withholding is adjustable against the return, some is treated as final, and one slip can carry items of both kinds. Take a salaried reader whose estimate under the 2026-27 table is Rs 72,000 on income of Rs 1,800,000. If payroll deducted that total across twelve months, the return reconciles cleanly. If it deducted Rs 78,000 because it projected a bonus, the Rs 6,000 gap is a reconciliation question rather than an automatic refund. The mistake is assuming withholding is always final or always refundable, and counting the same receipt twice. Ask which provision your employer applied, collect the certificate naming the amount and the tax year, and confirm current treatment with FBR.

Check the legal meaning in context and against the relevant tax year.