Paperwork for Marquees, Banquet Halls and Caterers in Pakistan

Sales tax on services basics for venues and caterers

Sales tax on hall and catering services is provincial, so the rate depends on where the function is held and on any fixed or reduced regime you have opted into. FBR separately requires the venue to collect advance income tax on functions under section 236CB. In Punjab the Marriage Functions Act 2016 also limits menus to one dish and closing time to 10:00 pm.

Three provinces, three sales tax offices, one income tax office

Sales tax on services is a provincial tax. A marquee in Punjab registers with the Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA), a banquet in Karachi with the Sindh Revenue Board (SRB), and a hall in Peshawar or Mardan with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA). FBR still matters to you, but for income tax and for goods you buy, not for the service you sell to the family booking the hall.

The rates do not line up. Reports on the Punjab law put the standard rate at 16 percent, with reduced rates notified for some sectors. SRB lists 15 percent as its general rate. KPRA let marriage halls choose between a fixed amount by seating category and 11 percent of charges from July 2024. Treat any figure on this site as a starting point and check the rate printed on your own registration.

Punjab rules that change what you can quote

The Punjab Marriage Functions Act 2016 limits the food at a wedding held in a hall, hotel, marquee or hired private property to one dish: one salan, one rice dish, one salad, hot and cold drinks, roti, naan and one sweet dish. The owner or manager of the venue and the caterer are both bound by it, and ceremonies at the venue must end by 10:00 pm. The fine runs from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 million, with up to a month of simple imprisonment.

Families still ask for three salans. A quotation that shows only a legal menu protects the hall, and a banquet event order that names the one salan protects the kitchen when an inspector walks in at 9:40 pm.

The advance tax families see on the bill

Section 236CB of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 makes the owner, operator or manager of a marriage hall, marquee, hotel, restaurant, lawn or club collect advance income tax from the person arranging a function. For tax year 2025-26 the reported rate was 10 percent of the bill for people on the Active Taxpayers List and 20 percent for those who are not, and it also applies to food or services supplied by an outside vendor. Check the current FBR rate card before each July, because the Finance Act moves these numbers.

The four documents and when each one is used

A quotation goes out after the family visits. It fixes the per-head rate, the date, the function (mehndi, barat or walima) and how long the price holds. The invoice follows the event, or goes out in advance for corporate clients who pay against it. A receipt is issued every time money arrives, starting with the bayana token. The banquet event order is the internal sheet the kitchen, decor team and floor staff work from on the day.

• Quotation template: /pk/quotation-template
• Invoice template with provincial sales tax: /pk/invoice-template
• Receipt template for bayana and balance payments: /pk/receipt-template
• Banquet event order for mehndi, barat and walima: /pk/banquet-event-order-template

Wedding season is the busiest audit season too

November to February is when halls take most of their year's money, and it is also when paperwork slips: tokens taken in cash at the gate, head counts written on a napkin, final bills totalled on a phone calculator. A clean set of documents per booking is what lets you answer a PRA or SRB notice in March without rebuilding the season from WhatsApp chats.

How Venura fits a Pakistani hall or caterer

Venura keeps the booking calendar, quotations, invoices, receipts and event sheets in one place, so the same date cannot be sold twice and the bayana is recorded against the right booking. You work in rupees and set your own provincial rate on each line. Venues in Pakistan can subscribe and pay in their own currency; pricing is quoted per business, so ask us for a figure. Venura does not connect to PRA, SRB or KPRA invoicing systems, so keep issuing receipts through the system your authority requires.

Questions from Pakistan