Tax and Customs

• Permanent establishment analysis and structuring (including virtual and digital presence)
• Tax-efficient holding and operating structures for inbound investors
• Branch versus subsidiary analysis for foreign investors
• Treaty interpretation and treaty-protected structures (Pakistan’s bilateral DTA network, including Singapore, the Netherlands, Ireland, the UK, USA, China, France, Germany and the UAE)
• Withholding tax planning on cross-border payments
• Transfer pricing, group taxation and inter-company arrangements
• Foreign exchange compliance and State Bank of Pakistan approvals integrated with tax structuring
• Government incentive programmes, services-export incentives and special economic zone benefits
• Tax-efficient M&A, joint venture and corporate-reorganisation structuring
• Digital economy, cloud, e-commerce and SaaS tax structuring
• Anti-avoidance, controlled foreign company and exit-tax analysis
• Expatriate taxation, employer withholding and social-security advisory
• Ongoing retained tax advisory for multinational and Pakistani clients
• Tax thought leadership and statutory commentary

• A leading global management consulting firm — permanent establishment structuring: Advised the global management consulting firm on permanent establishment thresholds under international tax treaties for cross-border strategic consulting projects in Pakistan spanning critical public and private sector mandates. Engagement covered the interplay between domestic tax law, bilateral treaties and foreign exchange regulations for modern consulting delivery models involving mobile workforces and hybrid operational structures.
• One of Pakistan’s major textile conglomerates — international holding-structure flip: Tax-led corporate and capital reorganisation of one of Pakistan’s major textile conglomerates, transitioning from a fragmented domestic ownership model to a consolidated international holding structure to enable global expansion and offshore capital raising. Architected a flip structure utilising sponsors’ non-resident status to facilitate a compliant share swap under Pakistan’s restrictive foreign exchange regime, with the final structure protected under a double taxation treaty.
• A leading Pakistani human-resources and technology group with cross-border operations — multi-jurisdictional tax and FX restructuring: Advising on a proposed restructuring of the group’s holdings across Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The matter is significant given stringent foreign exchange controls and potential civil and criminal exposure under FERA and the State Bank’s Foreign Exchange Manual. Forensic review of historical remittances and inter-company transactions involving offshore entities.
• WPP Pakistan — tax-efficient transaction structuring on consolidation: Pakistan-leg counsel to WPP Inc. on structuring its consolidation of three Pakistan media businesses (Ogilvy & Mather Pakistan, Mindshare Pakistan, Soho Square Pakistan) so as to minimise tax exposure for both parties through use of rarely-deployed exemption mechanisms under Pakistani tax laws. Advice covered cross-border remittance procedures, foreign exchange considerations and applicable withholding obligations for a seamless December 2025 closing.
• A UK-headquartered international cultural-relations and education organisation — Status & Tax Project: Comprehensive advisory on the organisation’s restructuring of its Pakistan operations: establishment of a wholly-owned subsidiary to operate the multimillion-USD exam-services business, a residual entity preserving status and tax exemptions for non-commercial cultural-relations activities under a renegotiated government MOU, with shared-premises diplomatic-immunity analysis and full corporate, tax, foreign exchange and employment compliance design.
• A leading global cloud-services provider — digital economy advisory: Advised on the tax implications of cloud services provided in Pakistan, the regulatory requirements for the import and export of equipment for the provision of cloud services, and the application of treaty provisions to digital service revenue — a rapidly evolving area of Pakistani tax law as the FBR expands its efforts to tax the digital economy.
• A UK-based accounting and advisory firm — services-export market entry: Advised the UK-based accounting and advisory firm on its expansion into Pakistan, including share transfer arrangements, corporate structuring and government incentives available to exporters of services, assisting the client in establishing a compliant, efficient and commercially viable Pakistan presence.
• Long-standing retained tax advisory — multinational and Pakistani enterprise clients: Ongoing retained tax advisory for multinational corporations and leading Pakistani enterprises on permanent establishment analysis, tax-efficient operating structures, withholding compliance, foreign exchange compliance, government incentive programmes and ongoing FBR matters across pharma, manufacturing, financial services, technology and consumer-products sectors.
• Tolley’s Global Mobility — Corporate Tax and Employment Tax (Pakistan chapters): Co-authored by Mayhar Kazi and Shafaq Rehman for the LexisNexis Tolley’s Global Mobility series, the Pakistan chapters provide comprehensive practitioner references covering permanent establishment (including virtual and digital presence), shell and holding company structures, branch versus subsidiary analysis, withholding taxes on non-residents, group taxation and transfer pricing, anti-avoidance, expatriate taxation, employer withholding and social security — a key resource for multinational enterprises structuring their Pakistan operations.

• Income tax constitutional challenges and anti-avoidance defence
• Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) assessment, audit and recovery defence
• Super tax constitutional and treaty challenges
• Digital services tax and treaty disputes (offshore digital services, royalty/business profits/other-income classification)
• Permanent establishment and treaty-residence disputes
• Withholding tax disputes and exemption-certificate proceedings
• Sales tax — input tax adjustment and reverse charge disputes
• Sales tax — inter-provincial and fiscal-federalism challenges
• Sales tax — sector-specific disputes (reinsurance, electricity supply, cross-border services)
• Sales tax — pharmaceutical SRO and exemption-notification interpretation disputes
• Workers’ Welfare Fund and Workers’ Profit Participation Fund disputes
• Constitutional challenges to fiscal legislation and FBR notifications
• Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR) and Commissioner Inland Revenue (Appeals) proceedings
• High Court tax references; Federal Constitutional Court constitutional petitions; Supreme Court Civil Petitions for Leave to Appeal

Income tax, treaty and digital economy disputes

• A Netherlands-incorporated global tech platform — Pakistan-Netherlands treaty dispute on digital services: Pakistan-law counsel for the Dutch entity in precedent-setting tax litigation. The FBR classified streaming subscription revenue as fee for offshore digital services under domestic law in conflict with Article 7 (Business Profits) of the Pakistan-Netherlands Double Taxation Agreement. The Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue dismissed the appeal in January 2026 in a judgment relying on facts about content delivery networks not pleaded by either side; we are now challenging the decision before the Islamabad High Court, with stay orders preventing recovery.
• A Singapore-incorporated global tech platform — Pakistan-Singapore treaty dispute on digital services: Counsel for the Singapore entity in income tax challenges concerning subscription revenue for tax years 2021–22, claiming exemption under Article 7 (Business Profits) of the Pakistan-Singapore Double Taxation Agreement. Filed reference applications before the Islamabad High Court and obtained injunctions against FBR recovery of the disputed tax demand.
• B.L. Harbert International (Private) Limited — PKR 30 billion anti-avoidance challenge: Challenged a PKR 30 billion income tax assessment under the anti-avoidance provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. The FBR sought to impute to the Pakistan client the alleged income of its Delaware-incorporated US parent company — an unprecedented attempt to expand the Ordinance’s reach to tax foreign entities with no presence in Pakistan. We also advised on initiation of mutual legal assistance procedure under the Pakistan-USA tax treaty. Issues of first impression on the territorial scope of the Ordinance.
• A Pakistani local-advertising partner of a major US social media platform — tax representative challenge (PKR 6.68 billion): Constitutional challenge against the FBR’s designation of the Pakistani client as social media platform’s Ireland subsidiary tax representative in Pakistan — effectively seeking to recover social media platform’s entire Pakistan tax liability from a local advertising partner. Filed four constitutional petitions covering tax years 2021–24 and obtained interim injunctive relief from the Sindh High Court after the FBR passed an assessment order without notice to the client.
• Arif Habib Corporation Limited — Workers’ Welfare Fund Supreme Court landmark: Landmark Supreme Court litigation in which it was held that levies under the Workers’ Welfare Fund were fees and not a tax, resolving conflicting decisions of the Sindh High Court and the Lahore High Court. Regarded as a milestone judgment that settled a question in litigation since 2007.
• Deutsche Tiefbohr International GMBH — Islamabad High Court treaty exemption (oil and gas): Won judgment from the Islamabad High Court holding that a non-resident entity was exempt from income tax on the re-export of equipment used for petroleum exploration and production, and on drilling and related services provided to E&P companies. Clarified previously unsettled questions of law on treaty-based income tax exemptions in Pakistan.
• KCA Deutag Drilling GmbH — Supreme Court depreciation allowance (drilling services): Successful representation in landmark proceedings before the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan, confirming that a company providing drilling services was entitled to depreciation allowance under rule 8(5)(j) of the Third Schedule of the Income Tax Ordinance, 1979 even if not itself engaged in oil and gas exploration.
• Hub Power Services Limited — third-party tax-recovery defence: Successfully challenged before the Sindh High Court a demand notice issued by Inland Revenue seeking to recover the alleged tax liability of a third party (International Power Global Development Limited) from HPSL and Hub Power Company — landmark precedent on the limits of substituted recovery against unrelated taxpayers.

Super tax, sales tax and fiscal federalism

• Chevron Lubricants Holdings Pte Ltd — super tax treaty cap (Pakistan-Singapore DTA): Challenged the imposition of super tax under section 4B of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 on a Singapore holding company, arguing the Pakistan-Singapore Double Taxation Treaty’s dividend tax cap of 10% applies to all taxes on income, including super tax. Won a favourable judgment in the Sindh High Court declaring the demand illegal; currently defending the judgment before the Supreme Court of Pakistan on FBR appeal — a binding precedent for all non-resident holding companies operating under similar tax treaties.
• Hydrochina International Engineering Co. Ltd Pakistan — constitutional challenge to super tax: Challenged the constitutionality of the super tax levy on multiple grounds, including (i) that it was not properly a tax on income as it was enacted with a specific purpose and not to raise general revenue, and therefore could not have been enacted as a Money Bill, and (ii) that Parliament lacks legislative competence on social welfare following the 18th Amendment. Obtained an interim injunction from the Sindh High Court.
• Chevron Pakistan Lubricants (Pvt) Ltd — Federal Constitutional Court input tax landmark (January 2026): Challenged the FBR’s blocking of input tax adjustments for Sindh sales tax paid on services received from non-resident providers under the reverse charge mechanism, raising the question of whether the input-output adjustment mechanism — the sine qua non of a VAT system — could be denied for cross-border services. Won in the Sindh High Court; the FBR appealed to the Federal Constitutional Court, which dismissed the Government’s appeal on 19 January 2026 — landmark precedent confirming the integrity of the VAT chain for multinationals operating in Pakistan.
• Chevron Pakistan Lubricants (Pvt) Ltd — inter-provincial sales tax: Challenged the Sindh Revenue Board’s claim that inter-provincial transport services were taxable in Sindh even where the provider was based in Punjab. Raises the constitutional question of whether the double incidence of sales tax on inter-provincial services violates the constitutional mandate that trade and commerce should be free throughout Pakistan. Substantial interim relief obtained.
• GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Limited — Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue landmark on SRO 551 sales tax exemption (October 2025): Represented GSK in a high-stakes sales tax dispute before the Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (Karachi Bench) on the recovery of PKR 73 million in sales tax, default surcharges and penalties on medicated shampoos (Polytar, Stiprox) and ENO Fruit Salts. The tax authorities argued for a conjunctive reading of the word and in Serial No. 7 of SRO 551(I)/2008, which would have excluded GSK’s products from exemption. We successfully argued for a disjunctive reading and overcame the department’s classification of medicated shampoos as cosmetic and toilet preparations — landmark ATIR judgment clarifying the pharmaceutical-sector exemption for the entire industry.
• New Hampshire Insurance Co. (AIG) and Chubb Insurance — sales tax on reinsurance: Multiple proceedings challenging Sindh sales tax demands totalling approximately PKR 1.5 billion on reinsurance services and premiums paid to foreign reinsurers.

Withholding tax disputes

• GlaxoSmithKline Pakistan Limited — Supreme Court withholding-exemption challenge (clause 47B): Represented ten funds established by GSK in a Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, challenging an FBR circular requiring such funds to obtain tax exemption certificates under clause 47B of the Second Schedule to the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 in order to avail exemption from withholding requirements. Leave to appeal and interim injunction granted by the Supreme Court.
• Total Parco Marketing Limited — Sindh High Court withholding-on-rebates challenge (PKR 200 million): Constitutional challenge before the High Court of Sindh on the FBR’s re-characterisation of rebates and discounts paid to distributors as taxable prizes offered for the promotion of sale under section 156 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. Stay obtained against PKR 200 million withholding tax demand on the Bahamas-incorporated Pakistan branch of the Total / PARCO joint-venture petroleum group.
• Pak Media Communications, Starcrest, Blitz and Fourays Advertising — Section 233 withholding-formula constitutional challenge: Acted for Pakistan’s leading media-buying houses in a constitutional petition before the Sindh High Court challenging Finance Act 2017 amendments to section 233 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 that imposed withholding tax computed on a deemed 15% commission — significantly higher than the actual 1–3% commissions the agencies earned, in some cases exceeding the underlying payment. Interim relief obtained.

• Customs valuation, classification and exemption advisory
• Customs duty exemptions and concessionary rates (Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act 1969; PCT heading 9903 and other PCT-heading-based exemptions)
• Customs duty drawbacks and refunds
• Cross-border import/export structuring advisory
• WeBOC enrolment and end-to-end import compliance for inbound investors
• Aviation customs structuring (aircraft entry/exit; temporary import regimes; cargo handling; transshipment; CORSIA carbon compliance)
• Customs aspects of digital marketplace and e-commerce operations (including the Digital Presence Proceeds Tax Act 2025)
• Customs penalties, container-terminal-operator liability and Customs Adjudication defence
• Customs Appellate Tribunal appeals
• High Court customs references and constitutional petitions on customs measures
• Customs Act 1969 statutory interpretation and SRO challenges
• Trade-facilitation and Pakistan Single Window legal advisory

• Pakistan’s leading automobile manufacturer (in joint venture with a major Japanese OEM) — LVA royalty and customs valuation advisory: Advised Pakistan’s leading and oldest automobile manufacturer on the customs implications of its transition from the Deletion Method to the Local Value Added (LVA) method on royalty calculations under its arrangement with OEM. The mandate required analysis under the Customs Act 1969 of whether royalties calculated under the LVA method would be integrated into the transaction value of imported CKD components, increasing customs duty liability — and assessment of customs re-assessment, transfer pricing and FBR scrutiny risks. The advice will affect the pricing structure for all companies collaborating with foreign automobile manufacturers in Pakistan’s evolving auto sector.
• A major Saudi Arabian airline — aviation customs and regulatory structuring: Comprehensive customs and regulatory advisory to a major Saudi Arabian airline launching commercial operations into Pakistan: aircraft entry/exit procedures, aviation-sector customs duty exemptions under the Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act 1969 and PCT heading 9903(b), temporary import regimes, customs valuation of owned, leased and chartered aircraft, cargo-handling, transshipment, ancillary services, WeBOC registration and CORSIA carbon compliance — delivered as a three-pronged compliance framework covering digital infrastructure, operational structuring and audit readiness.
• International Finance Corporation — Pakistan Single Window: Engaged as legal and regulatory experts for the nationwide Pakistan Single Window trade-facilitation portal. Led a comprehensive legal gap analysis of customs and non-customs frameworks, advised 74 stakeholder agencies, and drafted enabling legislation for the digital one-stop system that now streamlines all import-export clearances across Pakistan.
• A leading international e-commerce platform — customs valuation and import compliance advisory: Regular advisory to a leading international e-commerce platform on customs valuation, import compliance, and the application of the Customs Act 1969 and Customs Rules 2001 to its Pakistan digital marketplace operations, including under the Digital Presence Proceeds Tax Act 2025.

Customs disputes

• Haleon Pakistan Limited — Panadol customs duty dispute: Defended Haleon (formerly part of GSK Consumer Healthcare; manufacturer of Panadol, Pakistan’s most widely used painkiller) against a Customs department withdrawal of concessionary customs duty rates on imported packing materials under the Fifth Schedule of the Customs Act, 1969 — a re-characterisation triggered by Haleon’s use of a toll manufacturer that forced the Panadol production line to halt. Secured Sindh High Court interim injunction restraining recovery of PKR 238 million in alleged unpaid duties; negotiated interim clearance arrangements; prevailed on appeal before the Customs Appellate Tribunal in 2024.
• Karachi International Container Terminal (Hutchison Ports) — 99.97% customs penalty reduction: Successfully appealed a PKR 150 million customs penalty imposed on the terminal operator in connection with alleged management involvement in the illegal removal of a confiscated container. On appeal the penalty was reduced to PKR 50,000 — a 99.97% reduction and landmark precedent on the scope of container-terminal-operator liability under the Customs Act 1969.
• Karachi International Container Terminal (Hutchison Ports) — temporary container shifting dispute: Multi-forum customs dispute over the temporary shifting of excess containers to stevedore yards at Karachi Port Trust — Customs Appellate Tribunal appeal combined with parallel restraining order from the High Court of Sindh; following the Tribunal’s adverse decision, filed reference application and obtained a further injunction against Pakistan Customs’ recovery demand.
• Murree Brewery Co. Ltd — High Court of Sindh customs valuation: Successfully represented Pakistan’s oldest brewery in proceedings before the High Court of Sindh challenging the Customs valuation of imported packaging materials.

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