Karachi: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Monday, appealed the Federal Government and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns by one month to facilitate trade, industry, and other tax filers.
Urging the authorities to move the cutoff date to October 31, 2026, the apex trade body in a statement issued here, emphasized that this extension is necessary to ensure maximum tax compliance, broaden the tax base, and alleviate the immense pressure currently faced by the business community, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and individual taxpayers.
President FPCCI Atif Ikram Sheikh highlighted that as the September 30 deadline approaches, taxpayers and tax practitioners are facing severe systemic bottlenecks due to heavy national traffic on the FBR’s IRIS portal, hindering thousands of willing taxpayers from submitting their returns and wealth statements accurately and on time.
Expressing the business community’s commitment to fulfil its national duty and contributing to the national exchequer, the FPCCI president said that a one-month extension will provide a much-needed breathing space for taxpayers to reconcile their accounts, navigate the recent complexities introduced in the tax code, and file their returns without the fear of system crashes.
Following the recent amendments in tax laws and reporting requirements taxpayers require additional time to thoroughly understand these technicalities to avoid unintended errors in their wealth reconciliations, he argued.
The FPCCI stressed that granting this extension directly supports the government’s own primary objective of increasing the number of active filers. Rushing the process will inevitably result in a lower volume of submissions, whereas an extended window will yield higher revenue collection and wider, more accurate compliance.
Atif Ikram Sheikh has appealed directly to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the Minister for Finance and Revenue, and the Chairman of the FBR to take immediate cognizance of the ground realities.