Business leaders and Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Muhammad Jawed Bilwani have strongly urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take immediate notice of ongoing technical failures in the Federal Board of Revenue's (FBR) IRIS portal, which have severely disrupted tax compliance and caused grave difficulties for businesses across Pakistan.
In a formal letter addressed to the PM, the KCCI president said thousands of tax-compliant businesses are unable to file their sales tax returns due to serious flaws in the IRIS system. Most notably, the portal has arbitrarily restricted the Unit of Measurement (UOM) to only "kilograms (kgs)," which is wholly impractical for many industries that rely on alternative units such as number of pieces (pcs), litres, or meters.
He stated, "This kind of technical oversight reflects a shocking lack of understanding of the diverse nature of our industries, including bulk manufacturers, pharmaceutical, and shoe manufacturers. It is technically incompetent and administratively unjustifiable. The consequence is that businesses are being penalised through no fault of their own."
Despite assurances from the FBR that the issue was being addressed following its acknowledgment on March 20, 2025, no meaningful improvement has been witnessed. "The matter remains unresolved, and businesses are facing severe consequences simply for attempting to comply with a flawed system," he said.
He also expressed concern over the indifferent attitude of senior FBR officials. He recounted a recent visit to the FBR head office in Islamabad, where he arrived punctually at 9AM to meet with the Member (Sales Tax) - only to be kept waiting for an hour with no response, as the official failed to appear in his office. During the visit, the Chief Sales Tax Officer, Dr Ali Adnan Zaidi, admitted that FBR had been receiving similar complaints from other stakeholders but confirmed that no remedial action had been taken so far.
Bilwani lamented that KCCI has made repeated attempts to engage the chairman FBR, Member (Sales Tax), and other senior officials through letters and phone calls, yet has received no response.
Former President of Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders & Small Industry Muhammad Farooq Shaikhani said that despite repeated appeals from business bodies and chambers, these problems remain unresolved, threatening the efficiency of tax collection and imposing undue penalties on compliant taxpayers.
He warned that the technical glitches may lead to filing errors that cause substantial losses to taxpayers.
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