The number of people filing income tax returns in Pakistan has jumped 45 percent to 5.77 million in one year.
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) data shows that 5,767,384 returns were filed by September 30, compared with 3,980,692 during the same period last year.
This means around 1.79 million more returns were filed in one year.
Traders and professionals lead
Returns from non-salaried taxpayers increased 60 percent to 3.81 million from 2.38 million last year. This group includes traders, shopkeepers, professionals and self-employed people. It accounted for around 80 percent of the total increase in tax returns.
Salaried taxpayers filed around 1.9 million returns, up 22 percent, while returns from associations of persons rose 33 percent to 53,756.
The number of tax returns has also nearly tripled in three years. It stood at 1.92 million in September 2023 and reached 5.77 million this year.
More people show taxable income
Returns showing income above the taxable threshold increased 37 percent to nearly 2.5 million from 1.82 million last year.
The number of people showing tax payments in their returns also increased 38 percent to 3.35 million.
Among non-salaried taxpayers, payment filers rose around 50 percent to 1.75 million.
Tax paid with individual returns increased 11 percent to Rs. 34.5 billion, while tax paid by associations of persons rose 16 percent to Rs. 3.7 billion.
Company filings fall
Company filings were the main exception.
Only 7,953 company returns had been filed by September 30, compared with 11,206 last year.
Tax paid with company returns also fell to Rs. 39.1 billion from Rs. 49 billion.
Overall tax paid with returns stood at Rs. 77.3 billion, down around 7 percent from Rs. 83.3 billion last year.
FBR has also increased the use of data from banks, property records, vehicle registrations and withholding statements to identify people who may have taxable income but have not filed returns.
Around 39 percent of returns filed this year are nil returns, similar to last year.
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