Filing deadline extension sought

KARACHI: Tax bars have demanded the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the last date for filing income tax returns for tax year 2019 as per statutory requirement.

Besides, they said that political uncertainty, traders’ protest and internet outage severely impacted the return filing. The filing of income tax returns has already been extended from September 30 to October 31 for tax year 2019.

However, Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) in a letter to FBR chairman on Wednesday said that statutory time period for filing income tax return is 90 days under Section 118 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

But only 58 days have been allowed for filing the returns between September 2 and October 31, which implies that 32 more days should be allowed further for the purpose. The KTBA said the FBR had to still give a final format of return filing to shopkeepers and traders, who have been protesting.