KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the last date for filing of income tax returns and wealth statements as the taxpayers are facing immense hardships and are unable to timely submit their returns through the faulty IRIS system.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the KCCI president demanded that the FBR must restore the previous online system for filing of the income tax returns in order to give relief to taxpayers who are trying to submit their returns online but the existing IRIS system continues to give errors. “The old system for filing of income tax returns was functioning flawlessly and nobody faced any problems in filing their returns last year but this year, it has been replaced with the faulty IRIS system. We are unable to understand why the FBR has implemented such a system, which instead of facilitating taxpayers, has created more problems and intensified the hardships for taxpayers”, he added.
He said that the Karachi Chamber has been receiving dozens of complaints everyday about the IRIS system and the FBR authorities have already been informed about the problems being faced by the business community. “I personally spoke to FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa in order to brief him about business community’s concerns as the prevailing situation has triggered anxiety amongst businessmen and industrialists who are constantly approaching the KCCI for assistance,” he added.
Reiterating KCCI’s demand to replace IRIS with the old system and seeking extension in the last date for filing income tax returns, the KCCI president said that the FBR must seriously review the overall situation and take remedial steps in order to give some relief to the taxpayers and save the national exchequer from revenue losses. The KCCI fears that if the situation goes on like this, it will surely have a negative impact on revenue collection target as thousands of taxpayers will not be able to file their returns and wealth statements on time, he added.
