The Federal Board of Revenue has launched the new income tax return for Tax Year 2026, but the system faced hundreds of technical bugs following its rollout, creating difficulties for taxpayers and tax advisers ahead of the September 30 filing deadline. According to sources familiar with the matter, the return was deployed by Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited after the tax authority provided Change Request Forms containing amendments arising from tax measures approved by Parliament during the federal budget process.
A Change Request Form serves as the formal mechanism through which the Federal Board of Revenue communicates required changes to the IRIS system, covering amendments to tax declarations, calculations and other system functionalities. Under the existing arrangement, Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited functions as the tax authority’s technical execution arm, implementing changes to the IRIS system based on approved requirements and forms issued by the Board’s domain teams. The development carries added significance given that the Federal Board of Revenue has attached more than two dozen Inland Revenue Service officers to Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited, including a Chief Revenue Domain Officer and other domain officers, in an effort to improve coordination between the tax authority and its technology team and ensure operational and legal requirements are properly incorporated into the software.
Sources said the initial version of the delayed income tax return contained around 500 bugs and other technical issues following its launch. The Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited team subsequently began addressing the reported problems, with the number of outstanding issues falling significantly over time, and sources indicated most of the technical issues had been resolved after a migration from older equipment to new infrastructure was completed. According to data from the Federal Board of Revenue, around 808,719 income tax returns had been filed as of August 13, compared with approximately 747,050 returns filed during the same period last year, although sources noted that the total tax collected through returns filed so far remains lower than the amount recorded during the corresponding period a year earlier.
The bugs identified at launch have raised questions over the Federal Board of Revenue’s quality assurance and testing procedures for its digital tax systems, with sources suggesting the new return should have undergone more comprehensive testing and clearance before being made available to taxpayers rather than launching while a substantial number of technical issues remained outstanding. Responding to these concerns, a spokesperson for the Federal Board of Revenue said the Tax Year 2026 income tax return represents a significant step forward in the department’s digital transformation efforts, describing the new return as having moved from a static form to a dynamic interface that adjusts according to a taxpayer’s specific sources of income, so that salaried individuals, for example, only see sections relevant to their situation rather than the full range of possible tax categories.
The spokesperson also addressed queries about a newly introduced immovable property feature, saying it was deliberately built into the system to improve data accuracy by establishing clearer linkages between property ownership, rental income and agricultural income. The department added that the new return simplifies the calculation of Capital Gains Tax, an area of taxation generally considered complex, with the system now calculating the applicable tax automatically once a taxpayer enters the sale value and sale date of an asset. The Federal Board of Revenue said its joint team with Pakistan Revenue Automation Limited remains committed to resolving outstanding taxpayer issues and ensuring a smooth, transparent and modernised filing process as the September 30 deadline approaches, with taxpayers and advisers expected to continue using the new system while remaining technical issues are addressed.
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