Deadline to file income tax returns extended by a month

Low number of return filers forces finance ministry’s hand to allow for more time

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has announced to extend the last date for filing annual income tax returns by one month after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) received a little over just 200,000 returns by the end of September 29.

The number of returns filed till the last working day of the month was just 17% of the total returns filed in the last fiscal year. The date has been extended till October 31 for individuals, associations of persons and companies, according to the finance ministry.

One of the reasons for the low number of returns was the failure of FBR's Income Tax Policy in timely finalizing the return forms. Against a registered 4.3 million people, only 1.2 million filed their income and assets statements in the last year, showing weak enforcement.

A recent study of the World Bank has estimated that Pakistan suffers an annual tax loss of Rs3.2 trillion due to weak enforcement and low compliance by taxpayers.