Import duty · Generators
What a generator actually pays at import — it is not one number, and it does not scale the way you'd expect.
Shafiq Traders · Updated 13 September 2026
A generator's customs duty depends on two things: how it is powered, and its rated output in kVA. Diesel and semi-diesel sets are the odd case — the smallest sets and the largest both land on the lowest duty rate on the table below, while everything a typical factory, hospital, tower site or shop actually buys, in the output range between those two extremes, pays a good deal more. Petrol and gas-fired sets are simpler: one flat rate regardless of size. Sales tax sits on top at the standard rate, with no general exemption for generators. None of that changes on the strength of what the box says the set is rated at — it is assessed on the engine, and a mismatch between nameplate and tested output is the most common reason a generator's assessment moves after it has already been declared.
One heading, six brackets
Generating sets sit under PCT heading 85.02, and the First Schedule splits that heading first by how the set is powered — compression-ignition (diesel or semi-diesel), spark-ignition (petrol or gas), or other — and then, for diesel sets, by output in kVA. The rate is not the same number carried down the whole heading. It changes bracket to bracket, and the brackets do not move in one direction.
That matters because a generator's duty is not a question you can answer from the word "generator." It is a question you answer from the engine type and the kVA rating together, and both need to be right on the declaration, not just plausible.
What sets the bracket
| Question | What it decides | Where it usually goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Diesel, petrol or gas engine | Which sub-heading of 85.02 applies, and whether output brackets apply at all | A dual-fuel or gas-conversion set invoiced simply as "generator" |
| Rated output in kVA | Which bracket the diesel rate falls in, and how much duty is actually charged | The nameplate figure not matching what the engine tests at examination |
| Assembled or shipped in parts | Whether the set clears as one classification or several | The engine, alternator and control panel invoiced as one line when they arrive in separate crates |
| End use | Whether the set is a standalone import or part of a larger declared plant | A backup set for a factory being treated the same as capital plant for a new power project, or the reverse |
Customs duty — diesel and semi-diesel generating sets
PCT heading 8502.1 covers generating sets with compression-ignition engines. The rate runs by output, and it is not a smooth curve — it goes up through the middle brackets and back down at the top.
- 5 kVA or under5%on assessed value · PCT 8502.1110, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Exceeding 5 kVA up to 20 kVA20%on assessed value · PCT 8502.1120, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Exceeding 20 kVA up to 75 kVA20%on assessed value · PCT 8502.1130 / 8502.1190, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Exceeding 75 kVA up to 1,100 kVA15%on assessed value · PCT 8502.1200 / 8502.1310, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Exceeding 1,100 kVA5%on assessed value · PCT 8502.1390, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26 (First Schedule). Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.
Customs duty — petrol, gas and other generating sets, and sales tax
Spark-ignition sets do not carry the diesel bracket structure at all, and renewable-source sets sit outside the duty question entirely.
- Petrol or gas-fired sets, any output10%on assessed value · PCT 8502.20, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Wind-powered generating sets0%on assessed value · PCT 8502.3100, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Other generating sets (not compression- or spark-ignition)0%on assessed value · PCT 8502.3900, Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26
- Sales tax, all generating sets18%on value inclusive of customs duty · Sales Tax Act, 1990, section 3
Checked 13 September 2026 against Federal Board of Revenue — Pakistan Customs Tariff FY 2025-26 (First Schedule). Rates move at the budget and by SRO in between, so confirm the current figure with us before you price a consignment on it.
Where a generator actually stalls
The nameplate is not the last word on output. Customs can and does query a set rated on the box at 5 kVA if the engine and alternator combination on the technical sheet suggests otherwise, and the file then sits until the actual rating is settled rather than assumed from the invoice.
The other recurring problem is a set that ships in more than one crate. An engine, an alternator, a control panel and a canopy invoiced as "one generator, one price" is not how customs sees a shipment that arrives as four separate items on the terminal manifest. Each part has its own heading under 85.03 if it is not travelling with the rest, and the invoice needs to reflect that before the declaration is filed, not after a query raises it.
A set invoiced and nameplated at the bottom of its bracket does not keep that bracket's rate if the engine tests above it — the assessment follows the tested output, not the box. We would rather tell you that before the letter of credit is opened than after the assessment has already moved the file to the higher bracket.
Questions
What generator importers ask us
Contact
Tell us what is coming.
Give us the product, the port and roughly when the vessel is due, and we will tell you what the clearance involves and what it will cost.