Karachi: The SITE Association of Industry has called on the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to extend the deadline for filing income tax and sales tax returns by at least 15 days to accommodate taxpayers facing difficulties with the filing process.

According to S.I.T.E Association of Industry, President Muhammad Kamran Arbi, Chief Coordinator Saleem Parekh, Senior Vice President Hanif Tawakkal, and Vice President Farhan Ashrafi, along with the Executive Committee, have raised concerns over the failure of the FBR’s IRIS system, which has been down for the past three days. This has prevented registered taxpayers from filing their income and sales tax returns before the September 30, 2024 deadline. The association pointed out that the system has frequently collapsed under pressure, causing significant inconvenience nationwide.

As a result, many taxpayers, particularly Associations of Persons (AOPs) and individuals, have been unable to complete their filings, risking being declared non-filers. The association criticized the FBR’s reluctance to address this issue and called on the Finance Minister and FBR to extend the filing deadline by at least 15 days to avoid penalizing taxpayers.