KARACHI: The Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to immediately address legal, technical and functional issues affecting the Income Tax Return for Tax Year 2026 available on the IRIS portal.
In a letter to the tax authorities, the association said the return form has been placed on IRIS despite the absence of a final notification formally prescribing it under the Income Tax Rules, 2002. The KTBA noted that FBR had circulated a draft return through SRO 835(I)/2026 on May 7, inviting stakeholders to submit objections and suggestions.
According to the association, the consultation process has concluded, but the final notification has yet to be issued. It warned that merely making the form available on IRIS cannot replace the statutory requirement for formal notification, creating uncertainty for taxpayers and potentially leading to disputes.
The KTBA also highlighted several technical problems in the online filing system. These include the non-availability of the refund application facility, absence of downloadable filing acknowledgements and difficulties in reporting advances paid for property purchases.
The association further pointed out that taxpayers cannot properly enter brought-forward capital where there is no current-year business income. Some prior-year wealth statement information is also not automatically carried forward, forcing taxpayers to re-enter data manually.
The KTBA recommended introducing an Excel upload facility to simplify the filing of returns containing extensive schedules. It also raised concerns regarding partnership firm returns, taxpayer profile modifications, tax claims under Section 235 on domestic electricity bills and the inability to revise submitted Tax Year 2026 returns.
Other issues include incorrect tax calculations under Section 148, inaccurate auto-fetched withholding data under Section 153, duplication caused by manual financial statement entries and difficulties in determining tax residency status.
The association also sought improvements in property records, withholding tax verification and treatment of non-resident taxpayers. It recommended making vehicle chassis numbers optional in wealth statements where registration details are already available.
The KTBA has requested FBR to issue the final notification for the Tax Year 2026 return, resolve the identified IRIS portal problems and deploy an updated and corrected return form to ensure legal certainty and facilitate taxpayers.
