What PCT heading do solar inverters fall under?

8504.4090, the same heading used for static converters generally. The description on the invoice — off-grid, on-grid, hybrid, with Maximum Power Point Tracking — is what ties it to the solar-specific concession rather than the general rate for that heading.

Do solar inverters pay customs duty?

The rate is in the table above. It applies to inverters described and specified as built for direct connection to a renewable energy source.

What is a Tier-1 inverter brand, and does it matter?

It is a list of manufacturers the current valuation ruling names directly, drawn from an international market-tracking source. It matters because the two brackets in the ruling are materially different, and your invoice price does not override either of them.

What's the difference between hybrid, on-grid and off-grid for customs purposes?

Whether the unit has battery ports, whether it can feed surplus power back to the grid, and whether it takes an AC or generator input for backup. Customs settled these definitions after a dispute over an earlier ruling, and the table above has them as written.

Does the sales tax on inverters get any relief the way panels did?

Not that we have found. Panels moved to a reduced rate under the Eighth Schedule for this budget; inverters remain on the standard rate under section 3(1) of the Sales Tax Act, with no separate schedule entry reducing it.

Can inverters and panels clear in the same shipment?

Yes, and they usually do. Each still classifies and values on its own terms inside the one Goods Declaration.

What if my inverter brand isn't on the Tier-1 list?

The assessment falls to the higher bracket unless you can put concrete evidence in front of the bank or the collectorate that the brand should be treated as Tier-1 regardless of the list. We would rather raise that before filing than argue it afterwards.

Import duty · Inverters

What it costs to bring a solar inverter into Pakistan, and why the brand on the box matters.

Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026

Solar inverters come in under PCT heading 8504.4090, and customs treats an off-grid unit, an on-grid unit and a hybrid unit as three different things before duty and tax even enter the file — the table below has the current position for each. What decides the number your invoice is measured against is the brand: customs works from a list of manufacturers it treats as Tier-1, and a brand that is not on it lands in a different, higher-valued bracket regardless of what you actually paid.

Not one inverter, three

An inverter that only feeds the grid, one that only runs off a battery when the grid fails, and one built to do either job are three different machines to a customs appraiser, even though a distributor's price list might not draw the line as clearly. The distinction is not academic. It sets which of three valuation tables your shipment gets measured against.

This page covers inverters on their own. Panels and batteries usually travel in the same container, but they classify, and value, on entirely separate terms — see the panels page and the lithium battery page for those.

Off-grid, on-grid, hybrid

The definitions customs itself settled on after a dispute over 'off-grid' inverters in an earlier ruling. Valuation Ruling No. 2015/2025, Directorate General of Customs Valuation. Checked September 2026.
Type	How customs identifies it	What it means for valuation
Hybrid	Can draw on solar, battery storage and the grid, and generally carries a separate terminal for feeding surplus power back into the grid	Assessed against the hybrid table, by capacity bracket
On-grid / grid-tied	Converts solar power for direct use on the public grid, with no battery connection ports; drops to standby if the grid fails	Assessed against the on-grid table, by capacity bracket
Off-grid	Runs on solar and battery storage with an AC or generator input for backup, and no net-metering function; an AC input alone does not make it a hybrid	Assessed against the off-grid table, by capacity bracket

Duty and sales tax on solar inverters

PCT heading 8504.4090 covers static converters generally, and this is where solar inverters sit. This is the position for inverters described as off-grid, on-grid or hybrid, built for direct connection to a renewable source and fitted with Maximum Power Point Tracking.

Customs duty0%on assessed value · Fifth Schedule to the Customs Act, 1969, Part-I, serial 20 (items for use with solar energy)
Sales tax18%on value inclusive of customs duty · Section 3(1), Sales Tax Act, 1990 — the standard rate; we found no Sixth or Eighth Schedule entry giving this heading an exemption or a reduced rate

Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — Sales Tax Act, 1990 (consolidated text). Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.

What customs assesses the value on

A benchmark price per kilowatt, split by capacity and by brand. Column A applies to brands the ruling treats as Tier-1; Column B applies to everyone else, and it is materially higher at every bracket. These are the entry-level brackets of each table; the full ruling runs to nine capacity steps for hybrid units alone.

Hybrid, up to 3 kW — Tier-1US$110 per kWon C&F, PCT 8504.4090 · Valuation Ruling No. 2015 of 2025, dated 25 July 2025
Hybrid, up to 3 kW — other brandsUS$80 per kWon C&F, PCT 8504.4090 · Valuation Ruling No. 2015 of 2025, dated 25 July 2025
On-grid, up to 5 kW — Tier-1US$80 per kWon C&F, PCT 8504.4090 · Valuation Ruling No. 2015 of 2025, dated 25 July 2025
On-grid, up to 5 kW — other brandsUS$60 per kWon C&F, PCT 8504.4090 · Valuation Ruling No. 2015 of 2025, dated 25 July 2025
Off-grid, up to 3 kW — Tier-1US$75 per kWon C&F, PCT 8504.4090 · Valuation Ruling No. 2015 of 2025, dated 25 July 2025
Off-grid, up to 3 kW — other brandsUS$56 per kWon C&F, PCT 8504.4090 · Valuation Ruling No. 2015 of 2025, dated 25 July 2025

Checked 13 September 2026 against Directorate General of Customs Valuation — Valuation Ruling No. 2015/2025 (solar inverters). Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.

The brand list, and what happens off it

The current ruling names its Tier-1 brands directly: Huawei, Inverex, Goodwe, Growatt, Solis, Sungrow, Fronius, Solax, Sineng, ABB, SMA, and a small number of others recognised internationally or nationally as established manufacturers. If your invoice carries one of those names, the lower column applies. If it does not, the higher column applies, whatever the invoice actually says you paid — the ruling treats its values as a minimum benchmark, not a ceiling the transaction price can sit under.

This ruling itself replaced an earlier one after an importer successfully disputed it in a revision petition, arguing the capacity brackets were too coarse. Customs agreed and split them further. It is worth knowing that the categories can move, because it means the bracket your inverter falls into this year is not guaranteed to be the same next year, even if nothing about the machine changes.

Your inverter's own specification sheet decides its category before the file goes in — hybrid, on-grid or off-grid, and whether the brand sits on the list customs actually uses. Get that wrong on the invoice and the query lands at the terminal, not before it. We settle it before filing, and if a borderline brand is going to draw the higher bracket, we tell you that first rather than let the assessment do it for us.

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