KARACHI: The Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has sharply criticized the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for what it called a “complete breakdown” in the 2025 income tax return filing process, accusing the authority of gross mismanagement, repeated legal violations, and disregard for taxpayers’ rights.
In a statement, KTBA President Ali A. Rahim said the FBR’s last-minute decision to form a technical committee — just three days before the October 31 deadline — was proof that “the system was broken from the very beginning.”
“By forming this committee at the eleventh hour, the FBR has admitted that its filing system was riddled with serious technical flaws,” Rahim remarked. “And yet, despite acknowledging these faults, it refused to grant even a short extension — a move that defies logic and fairness.”
A Season of Glitches and Legal Breaches
Rahim described the 2025 filing season as “a hallmark of chaos,” citing constant portal crashes, calculation errors, and unauthorized changes in the IRIS system — the FBR’s online return platform.
“The FBR not only failed to release the return forms on time but continued altering them just days before the deadline,” he said. “Such actions are outright illegal and contradict the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, and Income Tax Rules, 2002.”
“92 Legal Days — Not 49 Lost Ones”
The KTBA chief stressed that taxpayers are legally entitled to 92 days to file their returns from the date the final return form is issued — which, this year, was August 18, 2025.
“We are merely asking for what the law already provides,” Rahim said. “The FBR failed in timely form development, testing, and release — yet expects taxpayers to perform flawlessly in a dysfunctional system.”
Legal Fallout Looms
Rahim warned that the FBR’s refusal to extend the deadline could trigger widespread litigation.
“Thousands of taxpayers now have strong legal grounds to challenge the FBR’s arbitrary actions,” he said, describing the situation as “a legal and administrative disaster.”
He also condemned the non-issuance of the manual return form, calling it “one of the biggest blunders in FBR’s history.”
“It’s absurd that the filing deadline expired without even issuing the manual form,” Rahim said. “How can the FBR penalize taxpayers for non-filing when the required form doesn’t exist?”
He further questioned the legal validity of the process, noting that if the manual form is issued later — as directed by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) — it would automatically extend the lawful deadline. “The FBR has created its own legal confusion,” he added.
A System in Collapse
According to Rahim, KTBA repeatedly flagged portal miscalculations, login failures, and data errors to the FBR, but the authority remained indifferent.
“Instead of resolving issues, the FBR made things worse — forming a committee after closing the filing window. That’s not reform; that’s ridicule,” he said.
KTBA’s Final Demand: Follow the Law, Respect Taxpayers
Concluding his statement, Rahim demanded that the FBR immediately extend the filing deadline and ensure a stable, transparent, and legally compliant filing environment.
“Taxpayers are willing to comply,” Rahim said, “but compliance requires a functioning system. The FBR must choose legality over bureaucracy — and fairness over chaos.”
