In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Malik said many taxpayers might not be able to file returns by November 15, due to slow processing and constant congestion in the online system, IRIS.

He noted that IRIS servers were too busy due to excessive load as large number of taxpayers were simultaneously filing income tax and sales tax returns under Section 147 and monthly statement under Section 165 of the Income Tax Ordinance.

He requested Federal Board of Revenue to seriously focus on enhancing the capacity of its online system which was not even capable of smoothly handling the number less than one percent of the registered taxpayers.