How to File an Income Tax Return in Pakistan on IRIS

You file an income tax return in Pakistan online through IRIS, the Federal Board of Revenue's taxpayer portal. For an individual, that means registering on IRIS, completing the return of income for the relevant tax year, completing a wealth statement, paying any tax still due and submitting the declaration with your PIN.

The portal itself is not difficult. The real work is having the right figures in front of you before you start, and making sure the income you declare explains the assets you hold. Under the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, a return that is properly filed is generally treated as an assessment order, so what you submit carries legal weight from the moment you press submit.

Half-finished returns usually stall because a certificate or statement is missing. Collect the following first:

• Your CNIC, a mobile number registered in your own name and a working personal email address.
• Salary certificate from each employer during the year, showing gross pay, allowances and tax deducted.
• Bank statements and withholding tax certificates for every account, including savings and term deposits.
• Dividend and profit certificates from companies, mutual funds and national savings schemes.
• Business or professional records: receipts, expenses and, where kept, a profit and loss account.
• Rent agreements and receipts if you let out property.
• Property documents, vehicle registration papers and details of investments, with the cost at which each was acquired.
• Last year's wealth statement, which is the opening position for this year's.

1. Register if you have not done so already. On the IRIS login page, choose the registration option for unregistered persons and enter your CNIC, mobile number and email. Verification codes are sent to both, after which you receive a password and PIN. For individuals, the CNIC then works as the national tax number.
2. Log in and open a new declaration. Pick the return form for the correct tax year. Salaried individuals with straightforward affairs may be offered a simplified form, and the FBR's Tax Asaan app provides a mobile route, but anyone with business, rental or foreign income should use the full return.
3. Select your sources of income. The form expands according to what you tick: salary, business, property, capital gains or other sources such as profit on bank deposits. Residents must include foreign income as well as income earned in Pakistan.
4. Enter income figures. Take salary figures from your employer's certificate rather than from memory, and enter bank profit and dividends in the gross amounts shown on the certificates.
5. Check the tax already deducted or collected. IRIS often pre-fills some withholding entries from data reported by banks and employers. Compare every line with your certificates, correct anything that is wrong and claim only what you can evidence. Some withholding is adjustable against your final liability; some is treated as a final or minimum tax, and the form asks you to separate them.
6. Claim allowances and tax credits you are entitled to, such as those for Zakat paid, eligible charitable donations or approved pension contributions. Each needs supporting documents, so do not claim what you cannot prove.
7. Review the computation. If tax is payable, generate a payment slip (PSID) from within IRIS, pay through your bank or its digital channel, and enter the computerised payment receipt (CPR) number back into the return.
8. Complete the wealth statement, described in the next section, and make sure it reconciles.
9. Submit with your PIN, then download the acknowledgement and a copy of the filed return. Keep both with your tax papers.

The wealth statement, required under section 116 of the Ordinance, lists your assets and liabilities at the end of the tax year: property, vehicles, bank balances, investments, cash, jewellery, loans given and loans taken. Assets held in the name of your spouse, minor children or other dependants are also reported where the law requires it. Assets are shown at cost, not at today's market value.

IRIS then asks you to reconcile the movement in your net wealth from last year to this year. In plain terms, the increase in what you own has to be explained by your declared income, gifts or inheritance received and similar inflows, after deducting personal expenses. An unexplained gap is the single most common reason the FBR later issues a notice to an individual.

• Filing for the wrong tax year, which is easy to do when the portal opens with several periods available.
• Accepting pre-filled withholding figures without checking them against certificates.
• Leaving out small bank accounts, dividend income or profit on savings certificates.
• Showing a newly bought property or car in the wealth statement without the income or loan that paid for it.
• Entering personal expenses as a balancing figure that bears no relation to how the household actually lives.
• Using the simplified salaried return when there is rental, business or foreign income that it does not cover.
• Paying tax but not linking the CPR to the return, so the payment does not appear against it.

Section 114 of the Ordinance allows a revised return where the taxpayer discovers an omission or wrong statement in the original. The revision must be accompanied by reasons and payment of any additional tax, and in some situations the Commissioner's approval is needed. A wealth statement can also be revised in limited circumstances.

The conditions and time limits for revision have been amended through Finance Acts more than once, so check the current text before relying on it. Revising is far easier before the FBR has started proceedings. Once an audit or amendment notice has been issued, the options narrow and the matter should be handled with professional help.

Keep the filed return, acknowledgement, wealth statement, CPRs and every certificate and statement you relied on. The Ordinance requires records to be kept for a prescribed period, and the FBR can examine past years within the limits the law allows. A simple folder for each tax year, paper or digital, saves hours when a notice arrives.

Many salaried individuals can file their own return once they have done it carefully a first time. It is worth having a return prepared or reviewed when you have business income, rental income from more than one property, foreign income or assets, a large asset purchase during the year, or an earlier return that you suspect was wrong. We prepare and review returns and wealth statements for individuals and businesses, and can take over correspondence with the FBR if questions follow.