FBR invoice rejected? What the error means

Identity errors are the most common cause of a rejected invoice, and the most commonly misdiagnosed — the message usually names the field, not the reason the value is wrong.

• 0001 Copy a link to 0001

  Seller not registered for sales tax, please provide valid registration/NTN

  The seller registration number sent does not resolve to an active sales tax registration. Check you are sending the right entity — a group with several registrations needs the token and the number to belong to the same one.

• 0002 Copy a link to 0002

  Invalid Buyer Registration No or NTN

  FBR expects a buyer registration of 13 digits, or an NTN of 7 or 9 digits, as bare digits. The usual culprit is an STRN pasted into the buyer field: strip its punctuation and it becomes exactly 13 characters, so it passes a naive length check, transmits cleanly, and fails here.

• 0057 Copy a link to 0057

  Self-invoicing not allowed

  Buyer and seller carry the same registration number. Branch transfers, stock movements and own-consumption postings have to be filtered out before transmission — they are not supplies to a third party.

• no code Copy a link to this error

  Buyer Registration Type is invalid

  The buyer type must be one of FBR’s accepted values (registered or unregistered). A blank, or a value carried over from your own customer master, fails.

The HS code is where most integration-time failures land, because the code has to exist in FBR’s own list and agree with the sale type you chose.

• 0019 Copy a link to 0019

  HS Code cannot be empty, please provide valid HS Code

  Every line needs a code. Services are not exempt from this — they use the same field with a Chapter 98 code.

• 0052 Copy a link to 0052

  HS Code that does not match with provided sale type

  The code exists but contradicts the sale type on the same line — for example a standard-rate goods code sent against a services sale type. This is the single most common integration-time rejection. Resolve both from FBR’s reference lists rather than setting either by hand.

• no code Copy a link to this error

  Unit of measurement not allowed for this HS code

  The unit field is case-sensitive and validated against the specific code: some codes accept exactly one unit. Resolve the permitted unit from FBR’s HS-to-unit lookup instead of using your own product master’s unit.

Rates are a function of sale type, province and invoice date. Hardcoding a rate works until the first line that is not standard-rated.

• 0046 Copy a link to 0046

  Provide rate

  The rate is missing, or is not written the way FBR expects for that sale type and date. FBR returns rates as descriptions — sometimes a plain percentage, sometimes a fuller phrase — and expects the same string back.

• 0008 Copy a link to 0008

  ST withheld at source should either be zero or same as sales tax

  Partial withholding is refused. The value must be either zero or the entire sales tax amount for that line.

• 0091 Copy a link to 0091

  Extra tax must be empty

  A field that does not apply to the sale type has been sent as 0 rather than left blank. FBR distinguishes between "not applicable" and "zero".

• 0090 Copy a link to 0090

  Please provide Fixed / notified value or Retail Price

  Third Schedule goods are taxed on the notified retail price, not the sale value. Send the retail price, and calculate the tax on it — FBR recomputes and rejects a mismatch.

• 0077 Copy a link to 0077

  Provide SRO/Schedule No

  Any rate other than the standard rate makes the SRO or schedule number mandatory.

• 0078 Copy a link to 0078

  Provide Item Sr No

  Naming an SRO makes its item serial number mandatory too, and the serial must belong to the SRO you named.

• no code Copy a link to this error

  If value of sales exceeds the threshold, that rate is not allowed

  Some reduced rates are capped by invoice value. Above the threshold the reduced rate is refused and the standard rate applies.

Format errors are trivial to fix and account for a surprising share of failed go-lives.

• 0005 Copy a link to 0005

  Provide invoice date in YYYY-MM-DD format

  Any other date shape is refused, including the DD/MM/YYYY most Pakistani systems display.

• no code Copy a link to this error

  Alphanumeric and (-) contained invoice No

  Your own invoice number may contain letters, digits and hyphens, with the hyphen between alphanumeric characters. ERP series using slashes — INV/2026/001 — must be transformed before transmission.

• 0074 Copy a link to 0074

  Provide Sale Origination Province of Supplier

  A city fails here: "Karachi" is refused, "Sindh" is accepted. Because province drives the applicable rate, this often surfaces later as a rate mismatch rather than as an address problem.

• 0075 Copy a link to 0075

  Provide Destination of Supply

  The buyer-side province, also as a province rather than a city.

Notes are validated against the original invoice, so most failures here are about the reference rather than the note itself.

• 0056 Copy a link to 0056

  Reference Invoice does not exist

  A note must carry the FBR invoice number of the original. Your own invoice number will not resolve — which is why FBR’s number has to be stored against the invoice on the day it is submitted.

• 0027 Copy a link to 0027

  Reason is required

  Notes require a reason from FBR’s accepted list, and a free-text remark alongside it.

• no code Copy a link to this error

  Debit or credit note can only be added within 180 days of the original invoice

  There is a hard 180-day window from the original invoice date. Later adjustments are not a note — take advice on the correct treatment.

• no code Copy a link to this error

  Reference invoice already exists

  A note has already been raised against that invoice. Check before issuing a second one.

A few sale types carry extra conditions that only appear once you select them, and are easy to hit unexpectedly.

• 0053 Copy a link to 0053

  For sale type Cotton ginners, Sales Tax Withheld must be equal to Sales Tax or zero

  Cotton ginner sales are also restricted to registered buyers.

• 0073 Copy a link to 0073

  Buyer not exists in steel sector

  Steel-sector sale types validate that the buyer is registered within that sector, not merely that the buyer is registered.