KARACHI: The Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) has raised concerns over computing tax liability by IRIS portal, saying members have found no clear statutory basis for the system-generated figures and are demanding the mechanism be reviewed immediately, with Tax Year 2026 return filing currently underway.
In its letter sent to the Member Operations FBR on Friday, the KTBA said the portal calculates a “Difference of Minimum Tax” without disclosing the underlying formula, assumptions, or the provision of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, leaving taxpayers unable to verify the computation themselves.
The Bar said that it is against the self-assessment scheme built into the Ordinance, under which taxpayers, not the portal, are meant to determine their own tax liability based on their specific business streams, receipts, and allowable deductions.
The KTBA said that IRIS in some cases applied normal tax rates without properly accounting for tax already collected or deducted at source under Section 153, effectively counting the same income twice and generating additional liability despite prior withholding.
It further said that any minimum-tax comparison should be made against the normal tax the taxpayer has already computed and declared, rather than through what it described as a mechanical allocation of receipts or an averaged tax rate applied automatically by the system.
Calling for the restriction to be “removed forthwith,” the KTBA said IRIS should function as a tool to implement the law rather than one that predetermines taxpayer liability, and urged the Board to allow taxpayers to disclose relevant facts and complete their lawful computations without system-imposed constraints.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026