Filing of tax returns to close on March 31

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the deadline for individual taxpayers to file their income tax returns by another month, setting March 31 as the new cut-off date.

The tax administration issued a notification in this regard yesterday, marking the fourth extension of the deadline in “public interest”.

Earlier, the NBR had pushed the submission date to February 28, following a previous extension to January 31. The original deadline for filing returns was November 30.

In addition, the tax administration has extended the deadline for submitting paper-based income tax returns to March 15, from the earlier cut-off date of February 28.

The revenue authority is considering a year-round return submission system divided into three categories, said a top official.

Under the proposal, early filers would get incentives, on-time filers would pay the regular rate, and late filers would face graded penalties.

This year, online filing was made mandatory for almost all individual taxpayers, whereas earlier it applied only to specific groups.