The sales-tax ATL and your input tax

By CheckOne by FormOne · Updated 21 Oct 2026

FBR publishes a separate Active Taxpayer List for sales tax: persons registered for sales tax whose registration is active. Like the income-tax list, it is a membership list: a supplier is on it or not.

Why buyers care

Under the Sales Tax Act, 1990 (including section 21 and FBR's related orders), input tax on purchases from a supplier whose registration is not active, for example suspended or blacklisted, can be disallowed. Buyers therefore check a supplier's status before relying on its invoices.

What the list can and cannot tell you

• It shows whether the supplier is on the published sales-tax ATL on the file's date.
• The published file is keyed by NTN and CNIC, not by STRN.
• Absence from a membership list does not by itself distinguish suspension, blacklisting or other reasons. Confirm any doubt with FBR or your advisor.

Whether a particular input tax claim is allowed depends on the facts and dates. This page is general information, not advice.

Keep the invoice review separate from the lookup

Start with the supplier identifier on the invoice, record which list was checked, and save its publication date. Retain the invoice and supporting transaction records alongside the result. An ATL lookup is one record for review; it does not validate the invoice or decide whether a particular input-tax claim is allowed.

Fictional example: different results on different lists

A supplier is present in the stored income-tax list but absent from the stored sales-tax list. Report those two observations separately, with their respective file dates. Do not turn the income-tax result into a sales-tax confirmation. Check the official verification service and ask your advisor to review the invoice facts.

When the result is missing or unexpected

• Confirm that the entered NTN or CNIC belongs to the supplier; preserve leading zeroes.
• Check whether the two files have different publication dates.
• Treat an unavailable source or network error as an incomplete check, not proof of absence.
• Keep any follow-up official result separately so the chronology remains clear.

Compare the two lists separately

Income-tax ATL membership and sales-tax ATL membership answer different questions. Save both source dates. A supplier’s appearance on one list does not establish its appearance on the other, and neither result alone establishes the treatment of a particular invoice.

Check a supplier's status.

Official sources and scope

• FBR: daily ATL updates and the revised annual transition (S.R.O. 1638(I)/2024)
• FBR income-tax and sales-tax ATL downloads
• FBR withholding tax rate cards by tax year
• FBR Sales Tax Act publications
• FBR Income Tax Ordinance publications

General information, not tax advice. Verify the rules and source dates applicable to your transaction with your advisor. This guide does not publish an independently approved rate table.