President of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Muffasar Atta Malik has demanded that the last date for filing Income Tax/ Sales Tax Returns has to be extended by at least one month up to October 31, 2017, which would enable those taxpayers, who had been facing problems in filing their returns due to numerous reasons, to submit their returns.

In a statement issued, Muffasar Malik said that many taxpayers may not be able to file returns by September 30, 2017 due to slow processing and constant congestions in the Online System, IRIS, followed by the Ashura Holidays. The internet and mobile phone services were totally suspended all over Karachi and in other parts of Sindh on 8th Muharram and will continue to remain suspended on 9th and 10th Muharram-ul-Haram as well therefore, many taxpayers will not be able to submit their returns online by tomorrow, September 30, 2017.

He noted that IRIS servers were also too busy due to excessive load throughout last week as large number of taxpayers were simultaneously filing Income Tax/ Sales Tax Returns under section 147 and monthly statement under section 165 of the Income Tax Ordinance.

President KCCI said that the complications in the online system were not something new to taxpayers as every year, submitting returns usually becomes an uphill task. He requested the FBR to seriously focus on enhancing the capacity of its online system which was not even capable of smoothly handling a meager number of less than 1 percent registered taxpayers.

“FBR must consider all these aspects and accordingly provide relief to loyal taxpayers by extending the last date for filing returns up to October 31, 2017”, he added.