How to File Your Income Tax Return in Pakistan

If the words “income tax return” make your stomach tighten, you are in good company. Most people in Pakistan have never been shown how the process actually works. The good news: filing your annual return with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is mostly gathering a few documents, logging into a portal called IRIS, and entering numbers you already have. This guide walks you through it calmly, from start to finish.

What “filing a return” actually means

Your income tax return is a yearly statement to the FBR that says: this is what I earned, this is the tax that was already deducted, and this is what (if anything) I still owe. For most salaried people, tax has already been withheld from your salary every month, so the return is often just a way of formally declaring it — and getting yourself onto the Active Taxpayer List (ATL), which is what makes you a “filer”.

A quick but important note: Filer.pk prepares your return for you — we organise your income, wealth, and documents into a clean, filing-ready summary. We are not affiliated with the FBR and we do not submit anything on IRIS on your behalf. The final submission is always done by you (or your tax consultant) on the FBR portal.

Documents you'll want before you start

• CNIC — your computerised national identity card number is also your tax registration number for individuals.
• Salary certificate from your employer showing annual salary and tax deducted, or your monthly payslips.
• Bank statements for the tax year (1 July to 30 June).
• Withholding tax certificates — for tax deducted on your bank profit, mobile/utility bills, vehicle, or property.
• Details of assets you own — property, vehicles, savings, investments — for your wealth statement.

Don't worry if you can't find everything immediately. Start with what you have; you can add the rest as you go.

The step-by-step process

1. Register and get your NTN

Before you can file, you need to be registered with the FBR. For salaried individuals your CNIC effectively becomes your National Tax Number (NTN). If you've never registered, our guide to getting an NTN walks you through the one-time signup on IRIS.

2. Log into IRIS and open the return for the right year

Sign in at the FBR's IRIS portal and select the income tax return for the tax year you're filing. The tax year runs July to June, so the return you file in late 2025 is for the year ending 30 June 2025.

3. Enter your income

Add each source of income — salary, business, freelance/IT export, rent, bank profit, and so on. If you only have salary, this is quick. Want to know what your tax should come to first? Run the numbers through our free tax calculator and check the tax slabs so nothing surprises you.

4. Claim your tax already paid

Enter the tax that was already withheld during the year — from your salary, your bank profit, your mobile and electricity bills, and so on. This is money you've already paid, so it reduces what you owe now (and may even mean a refund).

5. Complete your wealth statement

Individuals must file a wealth statement alongside the return. It lists what you own and owe, and it must reconcile with your income. This trips people up, so we wrote a whole plain-language guide: the wealth statement, explained.

6. Review, submit, and save proof

Check the figures, submit the return on IRIS, and save the acknowledgement. Within a day or two you should appear on the ATL — you can confirm with our ATL status checker.

When is it due?

The standard deadline for individuals is normally 30 September, though the FBR sometimes extends it. Because the exact date can move each year, always confirm against our live filing deadline page rather than relying on last year's date. Filing on time is what keeps you on the ATL — being a filer saves you real money, as our filer vs non-filer guide explains.

You don't have to do this alone

Filer.pk turns the messy part — collecting documents, calculating tax, and reconciling your wealth statement — into a guided, filing-ready summary you can hand to the FBR portal. We do the preparation; you stay in control of the submission.