The Excise and Taxation Department has announced plans to introduce a fully online vehicle ownership transfer facility, enabling citizens to transfer cars and motorcycles digitally from their homes without requiring visits to Excise offices for what are currently treated as routine in-person transactions.
The decision emerged from a performance review meeting chaired by Director General Excise Irfan Nawaz Memon, attended by senior departmental officials across relevant divisions, during which officials reviewed the performance of the department over the previous 15 days and assessed the existing vehicle ownership transfer mechanism. The department reviewed the functionality of the ETB web portal, which will serve as the primary platform enabling citizens to complete vehicle ownership transfers fully online. The ETB portal has been in use for certain excise-related services, and its expansion to cover vehicle transfers would mark a significant step in reducing footfall at physical offices and cutting the time and cost burden currently placed on citizens seeking routine documentation.
The same meeting also examined the number of vehicles currently registered in Islamabad alongside a detailed review of token tax payment collection figures, and officials discussed introducing an online payment system for traffic violation fines, designed to facilitate motorists and improve overall service delivery across the department. Performance of enforcement teams operating at various checkpoints was also reviewed, with authorities assessing field actions taken during the evaluation period. The dual focus on expanding digital service access while simultaneously tightening enforcement of outstanding obligations reflects a broader departmental direction of using technology to both serve the public more conveniently and improve compliance rates across vehicle-related requirements.
Director General Memon directed officials to make the vehicle transfer process more user-friendly and efficient, prioritising convenience for citizens seeking routine departmental services, and also ordered a stricter push against vehicle owners who have failed to pay token taxes. The Excise Department stated that the proposed digital initiatives aim to improve public services, increase transparency, and reduce citizens’ dependence on physical government office visits. For a country where excise-related transactions have historically involved multiple in-person visits, queuing, and paperwork, the shift toward a portal-based ownership transfer system represents a meaningful improvement in how government services interface with the public.
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