National Savings (NSS) Profit Calculator

National Savings pays profit in four different patterns, and the calculator applies the right one to each scheme. Monthly schemes (Behbood, Pensioners' Benefit, Shuhada, Regular Income, the five-year Sarwa Islamic Term Account and the savings accounts) pay a twelfth of the yearly profit each month. Special Savings Certificates and the three-year Sarwa Islamic Term Account pay every six months. Short Term Savings Certificates and the one-year Sarwa account pay once, at maturity. Defence Savings Certificates are cumulative: nothing is paid until you encash, and CDNS publishes the encashment value for each completed year.

Tax is taken from each payment, so the calculator applies it payment by payment. To compare schemes that pay at different times, it also works out a net yield: the compound annual rate that turns the money you put in into the after-tax payouts plus your principal. It assumes each payout is reinvested at the same rate, which is the like-for-like way to compare a monthly payer with a cumulative certificate.

People most often search for the monthly profit on a round amount. Here is the gross profit each month for the schemes that pay monthly, at the rates effective October 21, 2026.

After withholding tax, the monthly figure for filers and non-filers differs. Behbood, Pensioners' Benefit and Shuhada are modelled without withholding (no tax is taken at payment), so the filer and non-filer figures are the same there.

The table shows the gross profit on Rs 100,000 for each scheme at its standard term. Rates are announced by the Central Directorate of National Savings and revised every month or two, so check the effective date before you rely on a figure.

Behbood certificates start at Rs 5,000, and Pensioners' Benefit and Shuhada accounts at Rs 10,000. The ceiling for these three schemes is Rs 7,500,000 per holder. Other schemes have their own denominations and limits, so ask your National Savings centre.

For tax year 2027, profit on National Savings certificates and accounts carries withholding tax of 15% for filers and 30% for non-filers. For an individual this is a final tax up to Rs 5 million of profit in the year, which means the amount withheld settles the tax on that income.

Behbood, Pensioners' Benefit and Shuhada profit is paid without withholding tax: the Second Schedule of the Income Tax Ordinance (Part IV, clause 36A) switches off the usual deduction at payment. If you declare it in your return, the tax on it is capped at 5% of the profit (Part III, clause 6), and tax at your normal slab rates can come out lower, so 5% is a ceiling, not a flat rate. Under More options the calculator shows the profit taxed at that ceiling. Zakat is separate: it is generally deducted at source at 2.5% on 1 Ramadan from savings certificates and accounts unless you file a declaration, and the three senior schemes are exempt. Use the zakat calculator for your own position, and the income tax calculator to see where this income sits in your return.

A filer invests Rs 1,000,000 in Regular Income Certificates at 12.12%. Each month pays Rs 10,100, tax takes Rs 1,515 and Rs 8,585 reaches the account. Over the five-year term that is Rs 515,100 of net profit, and the Rs 1,000,000 comes back at maturity.

The best net yield among schemes open to everyone is Defence Savings Certificates, 10 years at 10.95%, and the best among all is Behbood / Pensioners' Benefit / Shuhada at 13.76%, because no withholding tax is taken from it. A cumulative certificate looks modest on a yearly basis but compounds, which is why Defence Savings does well over its full ten years and poorly if you cash it in early.

• Compare after tax and after inflation. A 12.12% certificate gives a filer about 10.8% net. Check it against current price rises with the inflation calculator.
• Look at the alternatives. Treasury bills, PIBs and bank term deposits compete with National Savings, and the deposit calculator compares all three for your amount and period.
• Know the exit terms. Early encashment can carry a charge or a lower profit rate. Regular Income Certificates are reported to charge 2% of face value in the first year.
• Rates change. New investments get the current rate. How a revision affects a certificate you already hold depends on the scheme, so ask your National Savings centre.
• Retirement income. If monthly profit is meant to fund living costs, the SWP calculator and the retirement calculator show how long a sum lasts.