By Recorder Report
Copyright brecorder
KARACHI: Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to resolve multiple systemic issues in the IRIS portal that are hampering income tax return filing for Tax Year 2025.
In a letter sent to the chairman FBR, KTBA pointed out several issues that require urgent attention. The letter said that the IRIS system failed to compute the tax credit on donations under Section 60 against the surcharge payable under Section 4AB.
Currently, IRIS generates separate payment slips (PSIDs) for surcharge payments instead of adjusting them against advance taxes already paid or withheld, creating a double taxation scenario, forcing taxpayers to pay surcharge twice, the letter said, adding that the system was allegedly treating excess tax collected under Section 100BA as minimum tax, converting a penal charge into a permanent tax burden, contrary to legislative intent.
Furthermore, KTBA said that IRIS reportedly treated all tax collected with electricity bills as minimum tax, ignoring provisions that make such tax adjustable when monthly bills exceed Rs. 30,000 or when annual bills don’t exceed Rs. 360,000 and added that the portal was said to be incorrectly including sales tax amounts in turnover calculations for minimum tax purposes, creating additional tax liability beyond what was already collected at source.
KTBA highlighted IRIS’s frequent changes with new problems emerging daily, causing productivity losses and contributing to last-minute filing pressures.
Keeping these issues in view, the KTBA urged the FBR either to immediately rectify these IRIS anomalies or issue notifications clarifying its legal interpretations of the contested provisions to facilitate taxpayers in avoiding unnecessary hardship, double taxation, and loss of confidence in the tax system.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
