How to File Your Income Tax Return on IRIS: A Step-by-Step Guide

Filing your income tax return keeps you on the Active Taxpayer List, lowers the tax deducted on everyday transactions and protects you when you buy property or a vehicle. Here is how individuals file on FBR's IRIS portal.

Before you start: documents

• CNIC, and your IRIS login (or register first using your CNIC, mobile number and e-mail)
• Salary certificate and annual withholding certificate from your employer
• Bank statements and profit/withholding certificates for every account
• Withholding certificates for tax paid on utilities, mobile, vehicle registration and token tax, and property transactions
• Details of rent, dividends, capital gains, business and foreign income
• Details of assets and liabilities at year end — property, vehicles, investments, cash, loans — and last year's wealth statement
• Household and personal expenses for the year

Step by step

1. Log in to IRIS and open the return of income for the tax year (the year ending 30 June).
2. Enter income under the right heads: salary, property, business, capital gains and other sources. Taxable and exempt amounts go in separate fields.
3. Add tax deducted at source — salary, bank profit, utilities and other withholding — using the certificates. Much of it is pre-filled from FBR's data; check it against your certificates.
4. Claim deductions and credits you are entitled to, and keep the evidence.
5. Compute the tax and compare it with tax already deducted. Pay any balance by generating a payment slip (PSID) and paying through your bank or app.
6. Complete the wealth statement: list assets and liabilities and reconcile the change in net assets with your income, receipts and expenses.
7. Review and submit both the return and the wealth statement, and save the acknowledgement.

Deadlines

For individuals the return is generally due by 30 September after the tax year ends. FBR sometimes extends the date by notification. Late filers may face penalties, and must pay a surcharge (Rs 25,000 for individuals since the Finance Act 2026) or give the prescribed undertaking to be added to the Active Taxpayer List.

Mistakes that lead to notices

• An unreconciled wealth statement — assets grew more than income explains.
• Omitting bank profit, rent or capital gains that FBR already knows about from withholding data.
• Declaring property or vehicles at values inconsistent with earlier years.
• Claiming credits without the supporting documents.
• Forgetting foreign assets and income where you are resident.