Circular about tax returns extension is fake, FBR clarifies

The Federal Board of Revenue has denied that any extension of the income tax return filing deadline for tax year 2026 has been announced, according to Business Recorder. The tax authority labelled a circular doing the rounds online as a forgery, stating that it had not issued any such document. The statement was posted on a social media account and reached readers on Tuesday.

The clarification came a day after the Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants Association asked the FBR to push back the deadline by one month. The association cited repeated malfunctions and instability on the IRIS portal, which it said had made filing difficult for practitioners and taxpayers. Its chairman, Salim Valimuhammad, made the request in a letter to FBR Chairman Rashid Mehmood Langrial.

Separately, the revenue body said around 4.7 million returns for tax year 2026 had been received so far. That is roughly 1.52 million more than the figure recorded for the same period last year, when 3.2 million returns had come in.