Premium vs Bearer Prize Bonds: What Is Different and Why It Matters for Tax

Pakistan has two kinds of prize bond. Most people know the bearer kind: the Rs 100, 200, 750 and 1,500 notes that families keep in envelopes. The other kind is the Premium Prize Bond, in Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000, which works more like a registered savings product.

They look similar on a results page, but they behave very differently when it comes to ownership, profit, claiming and tax.

Side by side

	Bearer prize bond	Premium Prize Bond
Values in use	Rs 100, 200, 750, 1,500	Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000
Who owns it	Whoever holds the paper	The person it is registered to, by CNIC
Profit between draws	None	Profit paid twice a year
Draws	Four a year per value	Four a year per value
How prizes are paid	You claim in person with the bond	Credited to your bank account, no claim form
Tax on prizes	15% filer, 30% non filer	15% filer, 30% non filer
Selling or giving away	Changes hands with the paper	Transfer on a form, both people present
If lost or stolen	No duplicate, and payment cannot be stopped	Duplicate can be issued with a police report
On the holder's death	Whoever holds the paper	Paid to heirs on a succession certificate

Sources: for bearer bonds, SBP BSC's FAQ on National Prize Bonds; for premium bonds, the National Savings Premium Prize Bond page, the Premium Prize Bond Rules and SBP BSC's Premium Prize Bond FAQ; for tax, FBR's withholding tax rate card.

Ownership: paper or name

A bearer bond has no name on it. SBP's FAQ compares it to a currency note: its ownership belongs to whoever holds it. That makes bearer bonds easy to give as gifts and easy to pass on, and also easy to lose. If a bearer bond is stolen, SBP will not issue a duplicate and cannot stop payment on it.

A Premium Prize Bond is registered in the investor's name. To buy one, National Savings asks for a copy of your CNIC, an account maintenance certificate from your bank showing the account title and IBAN, nominee CNIC details, and a tax certificate if you are a filer, according to its Premium Prize Bond page. The same page lists Pakistani adults and overseas Pakistanis as eligible; SBP's premium FAQ says overseas Pakistanis buy at authorised offices in Pakistan with a NICOP or Pakistan Origin Card. There is no category for minors, and a bank account is required. The bonds are sold at SBP BSC offices and the conventional branches of authorised banks, and SBP issued fresh instructions to those banks on premium bond sales in CMD Circular No. 22 of 6 August 2026.

Prizes and profit

Both kinds are drawn four times a year, on dates set in the official 2026 schedule. Premium draws fall on the 10th of March, June, September and December.

Each draw pays a fixed number of prizes at fixed amounts:

Bond	First prize	Second prize	Third prize
Rs 100	1 × Rs 700,000	3 × Rs 200,000	1,199 × Rs 1,000
Rs 200	1 × Rs 750,000	5 × Rs 250,000	2,394 × Rs 1,250
Rs 750	1 × Rs 1,500,000	3 × Rs 500,000	1,696 × Rs 9,300
Rs 1,500	1 × Rs 3,000,000	3 × Rs 1,000,000	1,696 × Rs 18,500
Premium Rs 25,000	2 × Rs 30,000,000	5 × Rs 10,000,000	700 × Rs 300,000
Premium Rs 40,000	1 × Rs 80,000,000	3 × Rs 30,000,000	660 × Rs 500,000

The bearer figures are the prize table in SBP's FAQ on National Prize Bonds. The premium figures are from the official result files, for example the Premium Rs 25,000 draw and the Premium Rs 40,000 draw of 10 September 2026. The amounts have been the same in every official result file since 2019. If you have seen Rs 75,000,000 quoted as the Premium Rs 40,000 first prize, that figure does not match the official files. The Rs 100 bond, by the way, is officially the Student Welfare Prize Bond, the name printed at the top of its result files.

Premium bonds also pay profit twice a year, credited to the linked account. The rate in force is 2.92 percent for each six months, set by a Finance Division notification of 8 April 2025 for profit due after 9 September 2025, and repeated in the National Savings FAQs. On that rate a Rs 40,000 bond earns Rs 1,168 and a Rs 25,000 bond Rs 730 every six months, before tax. We found no later change by 14 October 2026; the rate can be revised by a new notification, so check before relying on it. Under the Premium Prize Bond Rules, a bond encashed before six months earns no profit.

Bearer bonds pay no profit at all. The only return on a bearer bond is the chance of a prize.

Claiming: in person or automatic

For a bearer bond, you fill in the free claim form and hand in the original bond, a signed copy and a copy of your CNIC, with the details of a bank account in your own name, as set out in our claim guide. You have six years from the draw to do it.

For a premium bond, there is nothing to do. National Savings says prizes and profit are credited directly to the investor's bank account and no application is needed.

Tax: same rate, different timing

The tax rate on a prize is the same for both kinds: 15 percent if your name is on FBR's Active Taxpayer List when the prize is paid, 30 percent if it is not, under section 156 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.

The difference is timing, and it matters more than it looks.

• Bearer winner who is not a filer can wait. The prize is taxed when it is claimed, so the winner can file a return, get onto the list, and claim at 15 percent. Since the Finance Act 2026, joining the list late costs an individual a Rs 25,000 surcharge, so this pays only for prizes above about Rs 166,667. Our tax guide has the full working.
• Premium winner who is not a filer cannot wait. The prize is credited automatically and taxed at 30 percent on the spot. On a Rs 300,000 third prize that is Rs 90,000 instead of Rs 45,000. On a Rs 30,000,000 first prize it is Rs 9,000,000 instead of Rs 4,500,000.

If you hold premium bonds, the time to get onto the Active Taxpayer List is before the next draw. The same applies to profit: SBP's premium FAQ says profit is taxed under section 151 and prizes under section 156, at 15 percent for filers and 30 percent for people not on the list, and FBR's rate card shows the same 15 and 30 percent for this kind of profit.

Put any prize into our tax calculator to see both figures.

Selling, gifts and inheritance

Bearer bonds change hands by delivery. That is how gifts and family bonds pass on, and it is also why a private market for special numbers exists, which SBP's FAQ calls an illegal parallel market. Buying a used bearer bond carries real risks. Our guide to buying and selling special number bonds covers them.

Premium bonds cannot change hands by simply passing over a piece of paper. Under Rule 12 of the Premium Prize Bond Rules an individual can transfer one on form PPB 3, and SBP's premium FAQ says both the person transferring and the person receiving must be present. The bonds can be pledged after three months, and encashed at full face value at the office that issued them.

If a premium bond holder dies, Rule 15 says the amount is paid to the legal heirs according to a succession certificate from a court. If a premium bond is lost, a duplicate with a new number can be issued on form PPB 7 with a copy of the police report (Rule 16). Neither of these exists for bearer bonds.

Not to be confused with the withdrawn bonds

The old Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 bearer bonds were withdrawn, along with the Rs 7,500 and Rs 15,000 bearer bonds. They are not the same thing as the Premium Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 bonds, which are still drawn every quarter. If you have an old bearer bond of those values, read our guide to withdrawn prize bonds.

Which one should you hold?

That depends on your own money and plans, and this page does not give investment advice. What it can say is this: if you hold either kind and you are not on the Active Taxpayer List, every prize costs you double the tax a filer pays. Axiom Square files salaried returns for a flat Rs 5,000.

Axiom Bonds is not affiliated with the State Bank of Pakistan or National Savings. Check every detail with the official source before you act.