Industrialists urge FBR to extend deadline

Industrialists and traders have called on the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the deadline for filing income tax and sales tax returns by at least 15 days, citing persistent technical issues with the FBR's online system.

President of SITE Association of Industry, Muhammad Kamran Arbi, along with Chief Coordinator Saleem Parekh, Senior Vice President Hanif Tawakkal, Vice President Farhan Ashrafi, and the entire executive committee, urged the FBR to address the ongoing problems with the IRIS system. They noted that the system has been down for the past three days, preventing taxpayers from submitting their returns by the September 30, 2024, deadline.

According to the association, this system failure has left many taxpayers, including Associations of Persons (AOP) and individuals, unable to complete their filings on time. The fear of being labelled as 'Non-Filers' has added to their frustration. The association expressed disappointment saying FBR's reluctance to address this ongoing issue and extend the deadline is perplexing and will unfairly penalise genuine taxpayers for issues beyond their control

SITE Association members urged the finance minister and the FBR to take immediate notice of the prevailing situation, extend the deadline by at least 15 days.