The Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to urgently fix delays, bugs and technical problems affecting the IRIS portal, warning that the issues are making it difficult for taxpayers and tax practitioners to file income tax returns for Tax Year 2026.
The association said the Tax Year 2026 return was uploaded on the IRIS portal on July 27, despite the timeline prescribed under Rule 34A of the Income Tax Rules, 2002.
According to PTBA, the delayed launch left taxpayers and practitioners with limited time to complete their statutory filing requirements. The problem was compounded by technical glitches and operational issues on the portal.
The concerns were raised during a training session on August 25 at the RTO Lahore Auditorium, organised by the Lahore Tax Bar Association. The session focused on Tax Year 2026 return filing and the Asaan Small Traders Fixed Tax Scheme.
PTBA said participants highlighted multiple problems with the IRIS system and warned that the issues could cause unnecessary hardship during the already-short compliance period.
The tax bar has called on FBR to ensure that tax returns are uploaded within the prescribed timeline, systems are properly tested before deployment and technical problems are resolved without delay.
PTBA also objected to the detailed structural information being sought for immovable properties through the IRIS portal.
The association said collecting and entering extensive property details was time-consuming, particularly given the late availability of the return.
For Tax Year 2026, it proposed limiting the mandatory structural information requirement to property purchased or acquired during the year, capital gains from the sale of immovable property and property income declared during the tax year.
It suggested that details of other properties already owned by taxpayers should be provided in the following tax year, giving taxpayers more time to compile the information.
The PTBA also pointed out what it described as unequal treatment of minimum tax attribution under Sections 148 and 153 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
It said taxpayers can record income attribution themselves in cases covered by Section 148, while a similar facility is not available under Section 153.
The association urged FBR to review the difference and introduce a uniform mechanism where legally and technically possible.
Another major issue flagged by the tax bar was the removal of the auto-save facility from the IRIS return-filing system.
PTBA said taxpayers could lose entered or uploaded information because of session interruptions, connectivity problems, system errors or heavy portal traffic.
This can force taxpayers and practitioners to enter the same information again, increasing the time and effort required to complete returns.
The association has therefore called for the immediate restoration of auto-save, preferably with the system automatically saving information at regular intervals and retaining it in the taxpayer’s draft return until final submission.
PTBA urged FBR to take immediate corrective measures so taxpayers can complete their Tax Year 2026 returns without further technical hurdles.
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