Tax associations have asked the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan's national tax authority, to move the income tax return deadline 2026 past 15 October, and the date has not been changed again. The Pakistan Tax Bar Association wants 2 December, the Pakistan Tax Advisers Association wants 15 November, and the Salt Manufacturers Association of Pakistan has asked for more time without naming a day. Until the FBR issues a fresh order, returns and wealth statements for tax year 2026 stay due on 15 October 2026.
That 15 October date is already an extension. The tax bar told FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial that the deadline was shifted to 15 October through Circular No. 03 of 2026 on 30 September, and that the extra time had not cleared the problems facing taxpayers and practitioners.
Who is asking, and for which date
The Pakistan Tax Bar Association wrote to Mr Langrial asking for time until 2 December so taxpayers and practitioners can file in line with the law. It also asked the FBR to correct the minimum-tax formula and to resolve the remaining technical problems in the return forms.
Javed Iqbal Qazi, a Supreme Court advocate and chairman of the Pakistan Tax Advisers Association, wrote to the chairman on Monday. He asked for the last date for tax year 2026 returns and wealth statements to be moved to 15 November 2026. He said taxpayers and practitioners should be given that time as a matter of fairness.
Ismail Suttar, chairman of the Salt Manufacturers Association of Pakistan, urged the FBR to allow a suitable further period. He said extra time would help people file accurate returns and meet the law without penalties for faults they did not cause. He did not name a new date.
Why they say filing is still blocked
The tax bar said technical problems on IRIS, the online filing portal, and delays in fixing return formats were still disrupting filing. Filers also need time to update immovable property details and to provide IBANs, the international numbers for bank accounts. The bar and its district tax bar associations have repeatedly asked the FBR to align the system with the Income Tax Ordinance and the rules, and to drop unnecessary hurdles.
The bar also disputed the formula used to work out minimum tax for some taxpayers in the filing system. It said the formula was being applied incorrectly where a taxpayer under the minimum-tax regime also had income from another source on which tax was not required to be deducted under that regime. The association said it had raised this by email, through the media and other forums, and in Zoom meetings with the chairman, FBR members and the Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited (PRAL) team. It said stakeholders had agreed the formula did not apply in those cases, but the FBR had not corrected it.
Mr Qazi asked for less time and gave different reasons. He pointed to financial strain, a very slow IRIS system, load-shedding (power cuts) in different areas, and the burden on practitioners, advocates and chartered accountants. He said the FBR's target for the number of returns could not be met by 15 October 2026, with about 60 to 65 percent of practitioners' work done. New columns in the forms take longer, he said, and tax must be deposited through CPRNS at a bank before the return is sent on IRIS.
Members across the country had raised three further problems, he said. The manual return for low-income taxpayers is still not on IRIS. The portal is very slow, and the return is long and tedious to upload. Many taxpayers have also been unable to deposit their tax on time.
Mr Suttar said many individuals, traders and businesses were struggling because of repeated IRIS problems. He said return forms had been slow to become available, and the disruptions were still in the way of people trying to meet the current date.
These appeals do not move the date. The income tax return deadline 2026 remains 15 October unless the FBR says otherwise. The requests differ: 2 December, 15 November, or an unspecified extra period. No FBR tax deadline extension beyond the September circular appears in them.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Income tax return ki last date abhi 15 October 2026 hai. FBR ne abhi koi naya extension nahi diya. Tax bar 2 December tak waqt maang rahi hai, aur tax advisers 15 November tak, kyun ke IRIS portal slow hai aur forms mein maslay hain. Jab tak FBR naya circular na de, apna return 15 October tak file kar lein.
