The Federal Board of Revenue has moved to bring millions of undocumented cotton bales, commonly referred to as Gol Mall, into the formal system by introducing video surveillance across textile spinning units.
The tax authority issued Sales Tax General Order 8 of 2025 on Saturday.
The notification states that, under Section 40C(2) of the Sales Tax Act 1990 and Chapter XIV-BA of the Sales Tax Rules 2006, all registered textile spinning units must immediately install a video analytics system as outlined in the rules.
The FBR said cotton bale processing at spinning facilities will now be monitored through video surveillance and analytics technology. Production monitoring equipment will be placed at production lines, blendomats, and auto-plucker machines, using vendors approved by the board.
The directive requires all registered spinning units to complete installation of the video analytics system, including necessary hardware and software, by December 31, 2025.
To ensure timely compliance, chief commissioners will appoint focal persons to coordinate with registered spinning units and authorized vendors during the installation process.
The FBR has instructed field formations to prioritize enforcement, particularly for high-risk units suspected of using undocumented cotton bales. A jurisdiction-wise list of registered textile spinning units has already been circulated.
Oo come on , please hire someone competent
taxes must be reduced . everyone is moving businesses to uae because of low taxes
next fbr will monitor how much tatti every pakistani produces.
Advance countries monitor tatti for diseases
Again useless bureaucratic connotations always generalized threatening.
As salaried class I am strong supporter of Agricultural tax even then I do not like this kind of approach.
It should be like this.
In case of poor crop due to sundee attack on particular crop FBR will minimise the tax of affected crop Banana, potato, onion and etc from cultivating farmers, however based on aerial survey FBR will reconcile the production per hector against the number of bales sold to middlemen and FBR will include the middlemen in tax-net and ensure that the end user will not be affected by any tax on producer or supplier .
Undocumented cotton bales is in advantage to both ginner and textile spinning units. So how could interventions by FBR could be ensured success. Therefore, track and trace must also be installed at ginning factories.