Islamabad, October 26, 2025 – The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has not yet issued the manual income tax return form for the tax year 2025, even after extending the filing deadline twice.
According to official sources, the Inland Revenue (Operations) Wing of the FBR failed to implement the directives of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) to upload and notify the manual or paper version of the tax return. The FTO viewed this inaction as “negligence and inefficiency” in fulfilling official duties.
The FTO ruled that the failure to issue the manual form constitutes maladministration under Section 2(3)(ii) of the FTO Ordinance, 2000, as it demonstrates clear disregard for statutory responsibilities by the concerned FBR officials.
The complaint was filed by tax lawyer Advocate Waheed Shahzad Butt, who highlighted that the non-availability of manual return forms under the Income Tax Rules, 2002 has caused unnecessary inconvenience to taxpayers and professionals who depend on paper filing.
In its order, the FTO emphasized that under Rule 73(2DD) of the Income Tax Rules, 2002, individuals with taxable income below Rs 1 million are allowed to submit manual tax returns. However, the FBR has yet to release the relevant form for the tax year 2025, even though manual returns were regularly issued in previous years.
The FTO directed the Member Operations (Inland Revenue) to immediately upload and notify the manual/paper tax return form for the tax year 2025 to ensure compliance with existing tax laws and to facilitate taxpayers.