How can I check whether my restaurant bill is a genuine FBR invoice, and what happens if I report it?

A genuine FBR invoice is one that the restaurant’s point of sale has reported to the Board’s computerized system, and the Sales Tax Rules, 2006 give buyers ways to check that. Rule 150XB is the general verification facility. The prize chapter, rules 150ZEK and 150ZEL, adds the Tax Asaan app, a WhatsApp route and a reporting procedure, but only for customers of integrated Tier-1 retailers.

What does the law say?

Four provisions work together.

• Rule 150XB says the Board “shall provide a facility on its website” so that the buyer of an integrated person can verify whether the invoice issued to him has been communicated to the Board’s Computerized System. An “integrated person” is a registered person notified by the Board under rule 150Q(2) and required by rule 150R to integrate its invoicing hardware and software.
• Section 56C(1) of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 lets the Board prescribe prize schemes “to encourage the general public to make purchases only from registered persons issuing tax invoices”.
• Rule 150ZEK limits the prize chapter to customers of Tier-1 retailers that have integrated their outlets for real-time reporting of sales.
• Rule 150ZEL sets out the procedure: verify, receive a status, report if unverified, and have the Commissioner authenticate the claim.

Restaurants have their own chapter too. Rule 150ZA applies Chapter XIV-A to registered restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, eateries, snack bars and hotels, and rule 150ZB(3)(e) deals with printing a QR code and an FBR fiscal invoice number on the sale invoice.

How does verification work in practice?

Under rule 150ZEL(2), the customer verifies the electronically generated invoice either through the “tax asaan” application or by WhatsApp, on a number “to be communicated through an order by the Board”. That order is not part of this corpus, so this page does not give a number.

Rule 150ZEL(3) says the app or WhatsApp number tells the customer whether the invoice is “Verified” or “unverified”.

If it is unverified, rule 150ZEL(4) requires the report, made through the same app or number, to include:

Item	What the rule asks for
(a)	Name of the customer
(b)	CNIC of the customer
(c)	Mobile number of the customer
(d)	IBAN of the customer
(e)	Proof of digital payment
(f)	Picture of the unverified invoice
(g)	GPS tagged picture of the business premises that issued the invoice

Rule 150ZEL(5) then says an alert is generated in the IRIS login of the Commissioner Inland Revenue, who authenticates the unverified invoice to decide whether the customer is entitled to the prize.

What does the prize scheme look like now?

The current rule 150ZEL(1) entitles customers “who reports unverified invoices issued by tier-l retailer” to prizes. According to the footnotes in the consolidated rules, that wording replaced a random computerized draw of names and CNICs, and the WhatsApp route replaced an SMS to 9966, both by S.R.O. 1513(I)/2024 dated 26 September 2024. So the prize is now tied to reporting an unverified invoice, not to entering a draw with a valid one.

Rule 150ZEL(9) leaves the total prize money and the denomination of prizes to the Board. No amount is stated in the rules.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Hamza has dinner with his family at a cafe in F-7, Islamabad. The bill is Rs. 6,500 and he pays by debit card. The receipt has a QR code. He scans it in the Tax Asaan app and the status comes back “unverified”.

To report it under rule 150ZEL(4), Hamza gathers:

1. his name, CNIC, mobile number and IBAN;
2. the card slip or bank alert for Rs. 6,500 as proof of digital payment;
3. a photo of the receipt;
4. a GPS tagged photo of the cafe’s front.

He submits these through the app. The Commissioner receives an alert and authenticates the invoice. Whether Hamza gets a prize depends on that authentication and on the cafe being an integrated Tier-1 retailer, which is the condition in rule 150ZEK.

Had Hamza paid Rs. 6,500 in cash, the proviso to rule 150ZEL(4) says his right to claim the prize would be forfeited.

What if the restaurant is not a Tier-1 retailer?

The prize chapter speaks only of Tier-1 retailers. Section 2(43A) of the Sales Tax Act defines them by category, for example a unit of a chain, a shop in an air-conditioned mall, or electricity bills above Rs. 1,200,000 in the preceding twelve months. The rules do not say in terms whether every integrated restaurant falls in this chapter. If the restaurant is not a Tier-1 retailer, rule 150XB still gives the buyer a website check, but rules 150ZEK and 150ZEL do not describe a report or prize for that case.

What if the bill has no QR code or FBR number at all? Rule 150ZB(3)(k) mentions “reporting of failure of registered person to transfer sale data by the customer”, but it does so by applying rules 150ZEB, 150ZEC and 150ZEG. Those rules do not appear in the Sales Tax Rules as amended to 30 June 2025. The rules as held here therefore do not set out a separate reporting route for a bill with no FBR number.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a printed QR code proves the invoice is genuine. The rules make the status the test: the app or WhatsApp reply says “Verified” or “unverified”.
• Paying cash and expecting a prize. Without proof of digital payment the prize claim is forfeited.
• Skipping the GPS tagged picture. It is one of the seven listed items, and rule 150ZEL(6) puts the onus for delay on the customer if particulars are incomplete.
• Treating the prize amount as fixed. Rule 150ZEL(9) leaves it to the Board.

What to check in the official text

Read rules 150XB, 150ZA, 150ZB, 150ZEK and 150ZEL in the Sales Tax Rules, 2006 as amended to 30 June 2025, and section 56C of the Sales Tax Act, 1990. Then check the Board’s order giving the WhatsApp number and any Board decision on prize amounts, since neither is in this corpus. If the question is whether a particular restaurant is a Tier-1 retailer, read section 2(43A) of the Act.