- Grade-16 officers can seize untaxed tobacco across Pakistan.
- New powers include checks at shops, warehouses and vehicles.
- Pakistan collected record Rs298bn tobacco taxes in 2024.
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has authorised provincial revenue and excise officers — not below Grade 16 — to seize cigarette products found without valid or genuine tax stamps anywhere in the country.
The move comes under a new Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO 1279 of 2025), issued following the enactment of the Finance Act 2025. It grants broader enforcement powers to officers of the Inland Revenue Service (IRS), as well as designated provincial officials, in an effort to crack down on the sale and distribution of untaxed tobacco products.
The SRO states that in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (4) of section 27 of the Federal Excise Act, 2005, the following officers would be authorised to exercise the powers and perform the functions of the officers of Inland Revenue under section 26 and sub-section (1) of section 27 of the said Act under the conditions as mentioned herein below, in respect of cigarettes in retail outlet, warehouses and motor vehicles on the roads, namely: (A) Deputy Commissioner, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, General Assistant Revenue, or any equivalent designation in any provincial hierarchy of respective Revenue Departments; and (B) Excise and Taxation Officer, Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer, or any officer of Excise and Taxation not below BS-16.
Pakistan collected a record-breaking Rs 298 billion, around $1.1 billion, in tobacco taxes in 2024 following a series of bold fiscal reforms that also slashed cigarette production by over 28 per cent, signaling a rare but powerful success in the country’s fight against tobacco, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in its Global Tobacco Epidemic Report 2025.
However, despite this significant progress on taxation, the report warns that Pakistan still lags dangerously behind in implementing the full spectrum of tobacco control policies.
The WHO hailed the country’s recent tax hikes — executed between 2022 and 2023 — as a model of evidence-based policymaking. These reforms included tripling cigarette taxes, doubling the minimum price of cigarettes from Rs63 to Rs127, and increasing the share of tax in retail prices.
