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Talk about taxes and it’s pretty much a guarantee that Pakistanis will have a strong opinion. Be it sales tax, income tax, property tax, or any other tax you can think of, taxes are a constant source of discussion whether the topic is the need to utilize them properly or the billions that are evaded by the elite of this country.
Nevertheless, knowing about them is important as taxes directly impact a country’s earnings and also affect the GDP.
Here’s where the Federal Board of Revenue (also called the FBR) comes in. The board is responsible for regulating and collecting all kinds of taxes levied on the common man.
Despite being central to Pakistan’s income and treasury, people don’t know much about the FBR apart from a surface level understanding.
Here’s a short introduction and history.
Originally known as the Central Board of Revenue, the tax watchdog has seen a lot of changes since its inception back in 1924, when it was formed “through the enactment of the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1924″.
A revenue division was consequently formed under Ministry of Finance. Following Pakistan’s independence, the Board was amalgamated with the Ministry of Finance in August 1960.
After the 1973 constitution was finalized, the department underwent further changes for streamlining its operations. A new post of “Chairman FBR” (currently held by Mr. Tariq Mahmood Pasha) was created with the status of “ex-officio Additional Secretary”. Previously this role was under the Secretary Finance.
In a nutshell, FBR is supposed to:
The revenue collection board works through Regional Tax Offices (RTO) and Large Taxpayer Units.
It is further divided into different wings including:
You can learn more about FBR’s wings and the people behind them here.
Next is a step by step guide to filing your income tax returns. If you are a government employee or a business owner you will need a National Tax Number to file your taxes online.
However, you can register using the following process.
First things first, here’s a list of entities and people that are required to file for tax returns:
Consult this article to calculate how much income tax you’re liable to pay.
Next, if you’re registering as an individual, you will need to register at FBR’s online e-enrollment system called Iris.
Click here to get to the login page.
Click on “Registration for Unregistered Person” if you haven’t registered. You will need to fill out the following form which will be verified using SMS or Email (sometimes both):
If you don’t get the SMS/Email right away, you may need to wait for a few days as it takes longer some times.
Login with your registration number and password sent on your email. Note that your registration number is your CNIC (without dashes).
You can now file your wealth statement and income tax returns. Here’s a guide to filling out the details in your wealth statement/income tax returns. An additional FAQ is available here.
You can also check out the following video guides for this:
Wealth Statement
Income Tax Returns
If you’re curious about the ratio of taxpayers in Pakistan, or if you want to know if you’re included in the list or not, you can check for your name in the Active Taxpayers list.
Click here to access the Active Taxpayers list, using FBR’s search tool.
Out of Pakistan’s 207.7 million population, 1,411,724 are included in the active income tax filer list (as of 2016). This is less than 1% of the total population (0.0068%).
You can find a complete list of active taxpayers here.
You can call FBR at: 051 111 772 772 or +92 51 111 772 772
Email them at: helpline@fbr.gov.pk
The helpline is available from 9 AM to 11 PM.