The tax return filing process for the year 2023 in Pakistan has encountered a series of technical and legal challenges, as reported by the Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
The FBR recently introduced IRIS 2.0, an online system aimed at improving system capacity and performance for return filing.
However, according to the KTBA, IRIS 2.0 has proven to be challenging for taxpayers to navigate, and concerns have arisen regarding the security of taxpayers’ confidential data within the system. KTBA President Syed Zafar Ahmed expressed disappointment in the launch of IRIS 2.0, which was meant to be a significant upgrade but has resulted in confusion and frustration.
Some of the highlighted issues in the return filing process include modifications to the return form without the issuance of the draft or final Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO), which is considered a violation of the law.
Additionally, the IRIS system does not currently allow taxpayers to revise their returns within the legally permitted 60 days of filing without the approval of the Commissioner Inland Revenue, another violation of the law.
Data from the previous year’s wealth statement is inexplicably missing from the current year’s statement, and the process for adding immovable property through Annexure 7E is considered counterintuitive. Instances of data crossover in client returns, missing deductions at source under the MIS Tab, and unaddressed calculation errors in the depreciation tab have also been reported.
Moreover, income tax returns for taxpayers with Special Tax Years are currently unavailable, and the new interface of IRIS 2.0 has introduced significant changes that have resulted in difficulties for taxpayers and intermediaries to navigate tasks seamlessly. Users have reported login issues and slower performance of actionable tasks compared to the previous version.