Miss Sept 30 tax deadline, face penalty up to Rs25,000

Mettis Global reported, citing FBR sources, that anyone who misses the September 30 filing date will be treated as a non-filer from October 1. The Federal Board of Revenue plans to scrap the late-filer category, so returns submitted after the cutoff will no longer attract the lighter charge. Individual filers who miss the deadline could face penalties of up to Rs25,000, up from Rs1,000 at present.

The penalty for companies that fail to file would be Rs100,000, up from Rs20,000, while associations of persons would pay up to Rs50,000 instead of Rs10,000. The same September 30 cutoff also applies to businesses yet to finish their sales tax and income tax enrolment. The sources linked the change to government efforts to raise compliance and widen the formal tax base.

Taxpayers under the Asan Tax Scheme face a separate, escalating structure: Rs10,000 in the first month after the deadline, Rs25,000 in the second month and Rs50,000 in the third. The graduated penalties are intended to push people to file within the prescribed period rather than postpone compliance. With the deadline approaching, anyone yet to file is urged to finish the filing before September 30 to avoid the steeper charges from October 1.