How can salaried individuals become tax filers in Pakistan?

Federal Board of Revenue, Government of Pakistan, has an online system for e-filing of income tax returns known as Iris. The system is user-friendly, intuitive, and pretty straight-forward. You can file the statements by knowing some essential information. This blog post will get you started and complete the tasks. This post assists salaried individuals only. The process may differ for non-salaried individuals.

First, you need to be sure that you are a salaried individual. Its source document is Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. In the first schedule, part I, division I of this ordinance, rates of tax are mentioned. The clause 2 is as follows:

Where the income of an individual chargeable under the head “salary” exceeds seventy-five per cent of his taxable income, the rates of tax to be applied shall be as set out in the following table [rates of tax for a salaried taxpayer]

The tax year in Pakistan begins on July 01 and ends on June 30. During the tax year, if your taxable income consists of salary to the extent of more than seventy-five percent, then you are a salaried individual, and the tax slab of the salaried individuals will apply to you.

Once you have confirmed that you are a salaried individual, the next step is to check whether you are registered in the fbr system or not. You can check it by clicking the link below:
https://e.fbr.gov.pk

In the above link, select Search Taxpayers and click NTN Inquiry. A new page will be displayed. Make sure that Online NTN/STRN Inquiry is selected in the left menu. Check your status by selecting CNIC in Parameter Type. Enter CNIC (without dashes) in Registration No., enter the Verification Code and click Verify. If you are a registered person, the system will display Registration No, Name, Category, Tax Office, and other information. If you are not a registered person, the system will display No record exists.

Now that you know your registration status, visit the following link:
https://iris.fbr.gov.pk/public/txplogin.xhtml

In the above link, you will see an option: Registration for Unregistered Person

Upon clicking this option, after entering some necessary information such as CNIC, Cellphone Number, and Email Address, you will receive your Registration Number and Password. See this pdf from fbr website:
https://e.fbr.gov.pk/SOP/IRIS/Iris-UGD-REGM-Urdu.pdf

Now you have an online account for using Iris system. Use your Registration Number and Password to log into the Iris system. Depending on the details you see, you may have first to fill the form 181 (Form of Registration filed for modification) (Income Tax). At the upper right section, you will see an option of Registration Certificate. Click this option and view the Taxpayer Registration Certificate.

Now, at the end of each tax year, you will need to select the following option from the Declaration section and fill the relevant details:

114(1) (Return of Income for a person deriving income only from salary and other sources eligible to file salary return)
Watch this video from fbr website for 114(1) Return of Income:
https://e.fbr.gov.pk/SOP/IRIS/Iris_UGD_ITR_Video.zip

Watch this video from fbr website for 116(2) (Statement of Assets / Liabilities filed voluntarily)
https://e.fbr.gov.pk/SOP/IRIS/Iris_UGD_WLS_Video.zip

Earlier, there were two separate options for filing Return of Income 114(1) and filing Statement of Assets / Liabilities 116(2). Now these two forms have been combined under ‘114(1) (Return of Income for a person deriving income only from salary and other sources eligible to file salary return)’.

If all your taxable income is the salary paid by your employer, you probably need not to pay anything in the bank as tax amount. Your tax is already deducted at source. You only need to e-file the details.

When you are done with e-filing the income tax returns, click the following link:
https://e.fbr.gov.pk/esbn/Verification?PID=tpRPAPcN2h1XV/BHqP9Fqg==

It will direct you to the Active Taxpayer List (Income Tax) search option. Enter CNIC (without dashes) in Registration No. field, select the current date, enter the verification code, and click Verify. If your name is included in Active Taxpayer List (ATL), your Filing Status will be displayed as Active. You may not see the Active status immediately upon e-filing the income tax returns. ATL is updated periodically by fbr. Once your name is in the list, continue e-filing the income tax returns before the due date to maintain the status of a tax filer.

Individuals who want to refer to the specific sections of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 should download the latest version of the ordinance from the fbr website at the following link:
https://www.fbr.gov.pk/Categ/Income-Tax-Ordinance/326

Help files, videos, and tutorials published officially by fbr are available at the following link:
https://e.fbr.gov.pk/SOP/IRIS/help/index.html
https://www.fbr.gov.pk/video-tutorials-income-tax-return-filing/132186
https://www.fbr.gov.pk/tax-asaan-application/152393

All the best!!