Search for POS software in Pakistan and almost every result says "FBR integrated" in the first line. It sounds like a legal requirement for every shop. It is not. Here is what the rule actually says, so you can decide whether that feature is worth paying for.

Who must integrate their POS with FBR

FBR's real-time POS integration requirement applies to Tier-1 retailers. Under the Sales Tax Act, you are a Tier-1 retailer if any one of these is true:

• You are an official retail outlet, franchise or authorised retailer of a national or international brand, or a chain of such stores.
• Your shop is inside an air-conditioned shopping mall, plaza or centre (kiosks excluded).
• Your cumulative electricity bill over the last 12 months is above PKR 1,200,000.
• You are a wholesaler-cum-retailer.

If you are Tier-1 and not integrated, FBR can restrict your input tax adjustment, impose penalties and, in persistent cases, seal the premises. For those businesses an FBR-integrated POS is not optional.

Who does not

A standalone kiryana store, a neighbourhood pharmacy, a mobile shop, a garments shop in a market street, a bakery, a café: if none of the four points above apply, you are not required to integrate your point of sale with FBR's real-time system. Your normal tax registration and filing obligations still apply as before; the POS integration rule simply is not aimed at you.

That means the "FBR integrated" badge on a POS product is a feature you may be paying for and never using. In several products it is also the feature that forces the software to be online all the time.

What a small shop should look for instead

1. Works with the internet off. Load-shedding should not stop the bill.
2. Your tax details on the receipt. Shop name, NTN or STRN, and the tax amount should print on every receipt. That is what your customers and your accountant actually need.
3. A tax rate you control, with items that can be marked taxable or not, so GST items and exempt items sit in the same cart.
4. Your data on your own PC, exportable, so changing software later is not a hostage situation.
5. Reports your accountant can use: sales by day, by category, by cashier, a sales tax report.

Where Till9 stands

Till9 is built for the shops in the second group. It runs fully offline, prints a header of your choice under the shop name (most owners put the NTN or STRN there), applies the store's tax rate to taxable items and shows the tax on the receipt and in the sales tax report, and keeps the database on your PC with local backups. The Free plan costs nothing; Economy is PKR 20,000 once per counter.

It is not FBR-integrated, and we will not pretend otherwise. If your business meets any Tier-1 criterion you need an FBR-integrated system, and we will tell you that honestly in the first conversation rather than sell you something that does not fit.

If you are near the line

• The electricity threshold is cumulative over 12 months across the business. A shop with heavy air-conditioning or cold storage can cross PKR 1.2 million without feeling like a "big" retailer.
• Opening a branch in a mall makes that outlet Tier-1 regardless of size.

If either applies to you this year, plan for integration before FBR's notice arrives.

Free download and plans: najeebmedia.com/pos.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Tier-1 criteria and penalties are set by FBR and change; confirm your status with your tax adviser or FBR's current notification.