FBR has recently made the announcement for an extension in the date of finding the income tax returns for the year 2022 from September 30th to the October 31st via the issued circular No.16. According to the circular, a one-month extension has been issued, which primarily is a response to the request of extension submitted by Muhammad Idrees, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).
With the last date for filing the tax returns of the fiscal year 2022 fast approaching on September 30th, 2022, and almost no returns filed, Muhammad Idrees made a very genuine request to the Finance Minister to convince FBR to extend the last date until December 31st, 2022. He stated very clearly the facts about how the unexpected floods and rainfall in the country have impacted many schedules and that the chamber is being continuously approached by the business community and people from different professions in regard to the last date of filing tax returns.
He further made a point about how the imposition of the ban on imports followed by the torrential flash floods and rainfalls in the country has put business people, the major taxpayers, into problems like the inability to receive cash flows and pending payments.
It has been very obvious that the business, agricultural, commercial, and all other activities in the areas hit by the flood have a total closure – causing major issues in the cash flows. However, with the flash floods and rainfall coming to an end – there’s an expectation that things will normalize within two months.
The situation has led to the inevitability of providing taxpayers with the relief of extending the date for filing taxes. Thus, keeping in view the realities – he made the request to Finance Minister so that the taxpayers could be provided with relief and more and more tax returns could be filed this fiscal year without many defaulters.
In addition to that, there seem to be a lot of complaints about the glitches and discrepancies in the online return form. It is also causing a delay in filing returns and requires instant solutions to smoothen the overall process.
The president of KCCI, Muhammad Idrees, also mentioned that the time period for filing tax returns is always till the end of a fiscal year. Therefore, extending the deadline shouldn’t be much of a problem for the FBR.
With all the due situation and requirements of the time, the request for an extension in the deadline for filing the tax returns for the fiscal year 2022 is 100% justified. And the good news is – while FBR hasn’t fully accepted the request, they sure have issued a one-month extension allowing the taxpayers to file their returns by October 31st, 2022.
In the meantime, it is expected that the taxpayers would be able to get through their difficult times, and so would the respected department in getting the glitches and discrepancies in the online form fixed.