A parliamentary committee has approved a five percent tax on social media earnings for both local and foreign digital content creators as lawmakers continued reviewing Finance Bill 2026.
As per the details, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, endorsed the mechanism for bringing social media income into the tax net. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial briefed the committee on the bill’s provisions.
FBR officials told the committee that annual social media income of up to Rs600,000 would remain exempt whereas income between Rs600,000 and Rs1.2 million would fall in the five percent tax bracket.
“We are simply asking for our share from social media income,” Langrial told the committee.
The proposal also drew pushback from some members. Senator Mandviwalla warned that higher taxes could reduce incentives for digital earners to repatriate income to Pakistan. Senator Abdul Qadir argued that individuals earning through overseas platforms should be encouraged rather than burdened with added taxation.
Langrial, responding to the criticism, said that social media earnings should be treated like any other taxable income.
Separately, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, headed by MNA Naveed Qamar, directed the finance ministry and FBR to submit detailed revenue and relief estimates to assess the overall economic impact of the bill’s proposals.
Senator Abdul Qadir also proposed raising the super tax exemption threshold from Rs500 million to Rs1 billion, but Langrial opposed the move, saying it would create a revenue shortfall of roughly Rs250 billion and require additional taxation elsewhere.
