Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue has set an earnings benchmark of Rs195 ($0.71) per 1,000 YouTube views for taxing monetized content. The mechanism also counts gifts and free products received in exchange for posts.
The figure estimates earnings, rather than the tax payable. Existing Income Tax Ordinance provisions determine the applicable tax.
The September 23 notification follows draft rules issued in April. It allows expense deductions up to 30 percent of revenue. FBR’s resident procedure, SRO 1641(I)/2026, also permits revisions to the benchmark.
An FBR official told Arab News on Tuesday that views alone would not trigger the estimate. Content must generate income.
“Once it is clear that the content is monetized, the formula multiplies Rs195 by the ‘total number of views in 1000s’,” the official said.
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The official requested anonymity because he lacked authorization to speak to the media.
Explaining the benchmark, he said: “This figure of PKR195 was used because our research and interactions with people making monetized content in Pakistan lead us to this figure. This is the below average amount normal Pakistani content fetches per 1000 views on YouTube across different types of content and different types of content creators.”
Lower earnings require evidence
The procedure uses whichever is higher: the view-based estimate or actual remuneration, including payments in kind. Creators on other platforms would declare their total remuneration for the relevant period.
However, creators can challenge an estimate exceeding their earnings.
“If a person is of the view that the total remuneration received is less than the threshold prescribed… the person is required to demonstrate evidence to this effect to the satisfaction of the Commissioner,” the notification read, according to Arab News.
Evidence can include platform revenue reports, payout statements matching bank credits, withholding certificates, and sponsorship or goods-related contracts and invoices.
“The tax commissioner can also ask a creator to provide access to their social media dashboard under relevant legal provisions,” the official said.
Gifts count as income
“Payment in kind counts,” he said. Free products or gifts supplied in return for content can therefore make a post “paid.”
Creators should retain monetization-off or zero-earnings reports, payout statements and bank records to establish that posts earned nothing. Records should also demonstrate the absence of sponsorships, brand deals or gifted products.
Quarterly payments and audience thresholds
Creators must pay quarterly advance income tax and separately declare earnings in their annual returns. Commissioners can correct under-declarations and recover outstanding amounts.
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The resident procedure covers income from interactions with users in Pakistan. It sets no minimum audience threshold, the official said.
“Non-residents are covered only above 50,000 users in Pakistan in a tax year, or 12,250 in a quarter,” he added.
Business Recorder separately reported that SRO 1642(I)/2026 governs qualifying non-residents’ Pakistan-source income from user interactions. This distinguishes their procedure from the resident rules.
