Deadline for filing tax returns extended till December 31

After the circulation of an unverified circular on the date extension on social media, the FBR late Monday night extended the date for filing of Income Tax returns/statements for the Tax Year 2019 for individuals and Associations of Persons (AoPs) up to December 31, 2019.

The FBR has received 1.9 million income tax returns till December 15 along with Rs 15.5 billion revenue. According to the income tax circular No. 17 of 2019 issued by the FBR here on Monday, in exercise of the powers conferred under section 214A of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has extended the date for filing of Income Tax Return/Statements for the Tax Year 2019 as under:-

1). The date of filing of total income/statements of final taxation for individuals and Associations of Persons (AoPs) for Tax Year 2019 which were due on September 30, 2019 and extended up to December 16, 2019 is hereby further extended up to December 31, 2019.

2). The date of filing of Total Income/Statements of final taxation for companies for the Tax Year 2019, which were due on September 30, 2019 and extended up to December 16, 2019 in respect of those companies who have paid 95 percent of the admitted tax liability on or before September 30, 2019 is hereby further extended up to December 31, 2019, the FBR added.

The episode of date extension stated at around 2:00pm Monday when an income tax circular on the date extension was shared among different social media groups. However, the FBR sources negated that it has not yet issued any circular during the time between 2:00pm and 9:00pm. The unverified income tax circular had claimed to extend date for filing of returns up to December 31, 2019. However, the said circular was not verified as the same was not issued by the FBR.

The fake income tax circular created serious confusion among the tax practitioners because there were strong changes of 15 days extension for filing of income tax returns for Tax Year 2019. However, the FBR did not promptly respond on Twitter or through press release or message that the circular in question was fake.

This further created confusion among the tax consultants/ lawyers and taxpayers, who assumed that the draft income tax circular of the FBR has been leaked from the FBR and the tax officials are not admitting the same. However, late Monday night, the FBR uploaded the income tax circular on the date extension till December 31, 2019.