A calculator is only useful if its answer is right. This page explains where our rules come from, how we test them, how changing prices are kept current and how often we update them.
Where the rules come from, by section
Tax
Income tax slabs, withholding rates and super tax come from the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 as amended by each year's Finance Act, and from FBR's withholding tax rate card for the year. PTA tax on phones uses the customs and sales tax schedules and FBR's valuation of each model. Provincial taxes, such as stamp duty and annual property tax, come from the provincial Finance Acts and the excise departments' own rate tables.
Bills
Electricity bills follow NEPRA's uniform tariff decision as notified by SRO, plus NEPRA's monthly fuel charges adjustment decisions and quarterly adjustment decisions, the financing cost surcharge approved by NEPRA, the Sales Tax Act and section 235 of the Income Tax Ordinance. Gas bills follow the OGRA-notified domestic slabs. LPG follows OGRA's monthly price notification.
Education
GPA and CGPA pages use each university's own semester regulations, handbook or grading table. Merit and aggregate pages use the admission policy or prospectus for the intake, such as the PMDC MDCAT regulations, UET's ECAT rules or NUST's NET weights. IBCC equivalence follows IBCC's published formula. Test fees come from the testing body's own fee page.
Jobs and pay
Pay scales, allowances and annual increments come from Finance Division office memoranda and the provincial finance departments' notifications. Pension and commutation follow the federal and provincial pension rules. Age limits come from the FPSC and provincial commission rules and each advert. Minimum wages come from the federal and provincial notifications.
Property
Land units follow the Punjab revenue chain (karam, marla, kanal, acre) and the 225 sq ft marla used by DHA and most housing schemes. Building limits come from the LDA Building and Zoning Regulations and DHA's construction regulations. Construction costs use material and labour rates gathered from market sources and are dated on each page.
Daily life
Passport fees follow the DGIP schedule, NADRA fees its published fee structure, driving licence fees the provincial licensing authorities, token tax the provincial excise departments and visa fees the embassies and visa centres. Gold and silver use the rate announced by the All Pakistan Sarafa Gems and Jewellers Association.
Market prices
Some figures are not set by law but by the market: brick, cement and steel prices from dealers and contractors, the gold and silver rate from the Sarafa association, LPG and fuel prices notified by OGRA and the Petroleum Division, and the rupee to dollar rate from the State Bank of Pakistan. For each of these we keep one figure with its date and its source. Pages say "rate stored on" that date rather than calling it today's price, and every calculator lets you type the price you are actually quoted.
How figures stay in sync
Every changing figure lives in a single data file: the fuel adjustment in the electricity file, the LPG price in the LPG file, the dollar rate in the exchange rate file, and so on. The text on our pages does not type these numbers by hand. It reads them from the data file when the site is built, and worked examples are recalculated by the same calculator you use. When a new rate is entered, every page that quotes it, from a company bill page to a worked example, changes with it. Each data file also carries a review date, so stale figures are checked on time.
How we test each calculator
- Electricity: our bill calculator reproduces a real LESCO bill of 228 units from April 2026 to within a rupee, line by line, including the energy charge, fixed charge, fuel and quarterly adjustments, electricity duty and sales tax.
- Income tax: the slabs are checked at every boundary. We test the last rupee of one slab and the first rupee of the next, so the tax never jumps where it should not.
- Grades and aggregates: we test each formula with the university's own worked examples where it gives any, and with hand-worked cases where it does not.
- Fees: each fee calculator is checked against the published schedule for every option it offers.
The tests run automatically every time the site is updated, and an update that breaks one is not published.
Review dates
Each page shows a "last reviewed" date. That is the day we last checked the page against its sources, not just the day we edited the text.
How often rates are updated
| What | How often it changes |
|---|---|
| Income tax slabs | Each federal budget, usually from 1 July |
| Electricity fuel adjustment | Monthly |
| Electricity quarterly adjustment | Every three months |
| Electricity base tariff | Each January |
| LPG price | Monthly, from the 1st |
| Petrol and diesel | Several times a month |
| Gold and silver | Daily |
| Admission formulas | Each admission intake |
We update a page once the new rate is officially notified, not when it is first reported as a proposal. Corrections are listed on the corrections page.
Limits
Our results are estimates. A real bill can include items we cannot see, such as arrears, instalments or a local charge. A tax notice can reflect income or credits the calculator does not ask about. Where our figure differs from an official document, the official document is correct. If you think our rule is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.
Last updated 2 October 2026