The Punjab Revenue Authority has asked all hotels and restaurants across the province to install the Electronic Invoice Monitoring System, so that taxes are paid on time and compliance can be properly checked.
The directive was issued during a meeting between officials of the authority and the Hotels and Restaurant Association, where the two sides reviewed the installation process, the technical requirements, and the difficulties businesses face in adopting the system. The meeting also focused on bringing more hotels and restaurants into the tax net, so that the province’s tax base can be broadened and the burden shared more fairly.
Speaking on the occasion, PRA Chairperson Moazzam Iqbal Sipra said that issuing proper computerised receipts to customers is a legal requirement, not a choice. He warned that businesses involved in fraudulent practices in electronic invoicing would be closely monitored and would face heavy penalties. He added that cooperation between the tax authorities and the business community could make the tax system simpler and more transparent, and that expanding the tax net would encourage business activity and a culture of compliance. Representatives of the Hotels and Restaurant Association assured the authority of their full cooperation in efforts to improve tax collection and promote digitalisation.
The meeting was the latest step in a campaign the authority has been running for months to bring the hospitality sector under proper electronic oversight. The system at the centre of it is the Electronic Invoice Monitoring System, known as EIMS, which links a business’s billing directly to the authority. Every sale is reported through the system in real time, and each receipt carries a fiscal invoice number and a QR code that customers and inspectors can verify. The idea is to create a permanent digital trail for every transaction, so that sales cannot be hidden, under-reported, or recorded informally after the event.
The authority moved earlier this year to make the system unavoidable. In August, it banned handwritten receipts at restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, and marriage halls across Punjab, to curb tax evasion and bring greater transparency to tax collection. Under notifications issued by commissioners in all districts, those businesses were required to issue receipts only through EIMS, and they were barred from giving customers kitchen order slips, unpaid bills, or similar documents instead. Every receipt must show the business name and address, a receipt number, and the Punjab Revenue Authority’s QR code.
The penalties attached to that ban were deliberately steep. Businesses that fail to issue receipts through EIMS can face fines ranging from Rs400,000 to Rs1 million, and establishments that repeatedly violate the rules may also be sealed for up to one month. The scale of the fines was meant to make non-compliance more expensive than compliance, in an industry where informal billing had become routine.
The latest meeting shows the authority now turning from the rules themselves to the practical work of getting them installed. For many small hotels and restaurants, moving to electronic invoicing means new point-of-sale equipment, staff training, and a reliable internet connection, and the authority has acknowledged that the transition needs support as well as enforcement. The association’s assurance of full cooperation suggests the industry is willing to work with the process, even if the change is not easy for every business.
The authority is also moving on a wider front. It has said it will fast-track the registration of new businesses and the installation of EIMS across 14 designated sectors, with officers assigned specific installation targets and enforcement teams formed to increase registrations. Firms that issue fake receipts or tamper with records will face strict action, and the chairperson has warned that businesses found manipulating records, even with EIMS installed, will face a tax surcharge on top of other penalties.
The drive matters because the hospitality sector is one of the largest cash-heavy parts of Punjab’s service economy. Restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, and marriage halls handle thousands of transactions every day, and when those sales go unrecorded, the province loses sales tax that should by law be collected. Every business that issues proper electronic receipts adds to the tax base.
There is a customer side to the change as well. A proper computerised receipt with a QR code gives the customer proof of what they paid and what tax was charged, and a way to check that the tax actually reaches the authority. Handwritten slips and kitchen order tickets offer none of that. They cannot be verified, they leave no record, and they make it easy for tax to be collected from the customer and never passed on.
The question now is how quickly the installation can be completed across the province. The authority has set targets and formed enforcement teams, and the industry association has promised cooperation, but the real test will be on the ground, in the thousands of small restaurants and hotels that have to buy equipment, train staff, and change habits built over years. Either way, the direction is now set, and the province’s hotels and restaurants are being told, in plain terms, that the age of the handwritten receipt is over.
