The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a user manual for the implementation of the Sales Tax Electronic Invoice Management System (2026), which introduces a new facility in its IRIS portal that allows taxpayers to amend or cancel electronic sales tax invoices after 72 hours. The manual was prepared by Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) and the facility covers cases in which a taxpayer finds an error in an electronic sales tax invoice after the system’s 72-hour limit has expired. Any change after that period needs the approval of the concerned Commissioner Inland Revenue (CIR). The FBR says the enhancement lets genuine invoice errors be corrected through an authorised process, and without it a taxpayer could no longer edit or cancel the invoice in the digital invoicing system once 72 hours had passed.
Taxpayers apply through IRIS by logging in with their CNIC or NTN and password, opening the Sales Tax menu, and choosing the Application for Amendment in Electronic Sales Tax Invoice (after 72 hrs) under Applications. They select the tax period, add the invoice by entering the FBR Invoice Transaction Number, which is the master invoice number shown before the hyphen in invoice management, and then choose to load it for modification or for discard. An edited invoice cannot be cancelled, and a cancelled invoice cannot be edited, so each invoice can be used for one type of change only. The taxpayer can attach supporting documents in PDF format before submitting the application. A tax officer may ask for clarification through internal correspondence in IRIS, and the taxpayer must answer through the same channel, after which the officer can accept or reject individual invoice items or several at once.
The manual sets out several conditions that link the process to the monthly return. A taxpayer cannot submit Annexure-C of the sales tax return while a response from the CIR on an amendment application is pending, and the system displays an error if the taxpayer tries. Once the CIR approves an amendment, the updated invoices load into Annexure-C, and if the application is rejected, the original invoice as it existed before the amendment or cancellation is loaded into Annexure-C and the Federal Excise Return, as applicable. Invoices that are already linked to Annexure-C or to the Federal Excise Return, or that the CIR has approved under another application, cannot be included in a new application, and neither can invoices with a pending decision or ones that the CIR has already rejected. Taxpayers can still file more than one application for the same tax period as long as they involve different invoices.
For businesses that issue electronic invoices, the change gives a formal way to fix mistakes such as wrong amounts, tax rates, or buyer details that are noticed after the 72-hour window, but it makes the correction depend on a decision by tax officials and ties the filing of the return to that decision. That means taxpayers who need to correct invoices will have to submit their applications well before the return deadline, because a pending application blocks Annexure-C. The manual does not say how long the CIR has to decide on an application or whether there are any fees or penalties linked to late corrections. It does not mention any limit on the number of invoices per application, so taxpayers will need to follow later FBR instructions for those points.
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