ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has failed to upload and notify the manual/paper income tax return for the Tax Year 2025, an omission that the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) has held to constitute negligence and inefficiency in the discharge of official duties.
According to sources, the FTO ruled that such conduct amounts to maladministration within the meaning of Section 2(3)(ii) of the FTO Ordinance, 2000, as it reflects clear neglect and inattention to statutory obligations by the concerned FBR authorities.
The FTO has ordered Member IR Operations to immediately ensure the upload the manual/paper tax return for Tax Year 2025, emphasizing that adherence to prescribed rules
No manual tax return forms: FBR faces criticism for its persistent failure
The complaint before the FTO, Waheed Shahzad Butt stated that failure to make available the manual or paper return forms, as required under the Income Tax Rules, 2002 has caused unnecessary hardship to taxpayers and practitioners who rely on the manual system for filing their annual returns.
The FTO’s intervention was inevitable and treat is as a necessary corrective measure to address administrative lapses that disrupt the tax compliance process.
The FTO order states “The complainant stated that as per rule 73(2DD) of Income Tax Rules 2002, it is mandatory to e-file the Income Tax Return if an individual taxpayer has taxable income one million rupees or more.
Accordingly, other taxpayers having less income than Rs. 1,000,000/- are required to file manual income tax returns. However, the FBR did not issue the manual return form for tax year 2025 for the eligible taxpayers. The latest screen shot of the income tax returns up to 2024 has been placed.
Despite clear legal mandate and previous practice, the Board has failed this time to upload or notify the manual/paper return for the tax year 2025. This negligence and inefficiency in the discharges of duties constitutes maladministration in terms of 2(3)(ii) of the FTO, Ordinance, 2000. Member IR Operations should immediately ensure upload of the manual /paper tax return for tax year 2025: the FTO ordered.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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