FPCCI Demands Extension in Income Tax Return Filing Deadline
FPCCI (Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry) Monday urged the federal government and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the deadline for filing income tax returns by one month – moving the cutoff date to October 31, 2026 – to facilitate trade, industry, and other tax filers.
The apex trade body emphasized that this extension is not a concession but a practical necessity 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.
FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh highlighted that as the September 30 deadline approaches, taxpayers and tax practitioners are facing severe systemic bottlenecks. The FBR’s IRIS portal has been experiencing frequent slowdowns, glitches, and downtimes due to heavy national traffic. These technical disruptions are preventing thousands of willing taxpayers from submitting their returns and wealth statements accurately and on time, he added.
He explained that the business community is fully committed to fulfilling its national duty and contributing to the national exchequer. However, penalizing them for systemic inefficiencies and a highly congested and insufficient digital infrastructure is unfair.
The FPCCI leadership outlined several critical reasons for the demanded extension:
- Instability within FBR's digital infrastructure: Constant lagging and crashing of the IRIS system during peak hours have made it nearly impossible for tax lawyers, chartered accountants, and individual business owners to process filings efficiently.
- Recent amendments in tax laws: These changes have created confusion, requiring additional time for taxpayers to understand technicalities and avoid errors.
- Macroeconomic challenges: High inflation and surging operational costs have severely stretched the administrative capacities of SMEs, making it difficult to finalize financial audits and gather documentation within the rigid timeframe.
The FPCCI stressed that granting this extension directly supports the government's 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 to the Prime Minister to consider this reasonable demand to benefit the economy and the business community.