Extension in deadline demanded

KARACHI: Tax practitioners have urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the date for filing annual income tax return by at least a month, ie up to September 30, as the e-filing system was not working properly.
In different letters to FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa on Thursday, Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) and Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) informed that the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) – the online software for e-filing – was not working properly. They said the taxpayers would not able to comply by August 31.
The PTBA said that besides difficulties in the IRIS, the authorities had updated the return form a few days ago, leaving insufficient time for taxpayer to comply with the mandatory requirement.
“FBR should facilitate all the taxpayers in filing their tax returns and statements legally and properly in order to comply with the statute, which is the legal right of the genuine taxpayer of the country,” PTBA President Munawwar Hussain Shaikh urged the FBR chairman in his letter.
KTBA president Muhammad Zubair, in his letter to the FBR chairman, said the returns that are to be filed by August 31 do not have any impact on the revenue, because the tax had already been deducted at source and deposited to the national exchequer.