Every year, the same panic hits in September: “wait, do I need to file taxes?” If you’ve earned any income in Pakistan salary, freelance, business, rent, whatever the answer is yes. And no, you don’t need to pay someone thousands of rupees to do it for you. Here’s exactly how to file it yourself, start to finish.
First, know your timeline
Pakistan’s tax year runs from July 1 to June 30. So the return you file in 2026 covers income earned between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026, this is called Tax Year 2026.
The deadline to file is September 30, 2026. FBR has extended this in past years, but don’t plan around that file early if you can. The portal gets painfully slow in the last week of September when everyone shows up at once.
Step 1: Get your NTN (if you don’t already have one)
If this is your first time filing, you need a National Tax Number first.
Go to iris.fbr.gov.pk, click “Registration for Unregistered Person,” and fill in your CNIC, name, address, and income source. Your NTN is generated automatically once you submit no separate application needed.
Already registered but lost your login? Use the CNIC-based recovery option on the login page instead of registering again.
Step 2: Log into IRIS
Head back to iris.fbr.gov.pk and log in with your CNIC (no dashes) as your username and your password. This is your dashboard for everything filing, payments, wealth statements, and checking your filer status.
Tip: use Chrome or Firefox. Older browsers cause login errors more often than they should.
Step 3: Pick the right form
This trips up more people than anything else in the process:
- Form 114(I) — the simplified return, for salaried individuals where salary makes up more than 50% of total income. This is the fastest option if it applies to you.
- Normal Return — for business income, freelance income, rental income, mixed income sources, or anything more complex than a straightforward salary.
Pick wrong and you’ll end up redoing sections you didn’t need, or missing fields you did.
Step 4: Fill in your income details
Go to Declaration → Income Tax Return, select Tax Year 2026, and start entering:
- Salary income (from your salary certificate/employer)
- Business or freelance income
- Rental income
- Capital gains, if any
- Any other income sources
Double-check your personal information tab too name, CNIC, address, father’s name. It’s usually pre-filled from your registration, but errors here can delay your filer status or trigger a mismatch notice later.
Step 5: Add deductions and file your wealth statement
Enter any deductions and tax credits you’re eligible for provident fund contributions, life insurance premiums, education expenses, and so on. These reduce what you owe, so don’t skip them.
If you’re required to file a wealth statement (most individuals with any meaningful assets are), fill that in too it’s your declaration of what you own: property, vehicles, bank balances, investments.
Step 6: Review, pay if needed, and submit
IRIS calculates your tax liability automatically based on what you’ve entered. If you owe tax, generate a PSID (payment slip) and pay through your bank, mobile wallet, or the FBR Tax Asaan app.
Review everything one more time this is the step people rush and regret. Once you’re confident it’s accurate, hit submit.
Step 7: Save your acknowledgement slip
The moment you submit, IRIS generates an Acknowledgement Slip. Download it immediately and save it somewhere you’ll actually find it again, Drive, email, wherever. You’ll need this for property deals, visa applications, bank loans, and basically any formal transaction going forward.
Your name shows up on the Active Taxpayer List (ATL) within about 7 to 10 working days. ATL updates weekly, so don’t panic if it’s not instant.
Quick tax slab reference (salaried individuals, Tax Year 2026)
| Annual Income | Tax Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to PKR 600,000 | 0% (tax-free) |
| PKR 600,001 – 1,200,000 | 5% of amount exceeding PKR 600,000 |
| PKR 1,200,001 – 2,200,000 | PKR 30,000 + 15% of amount exceeding PKR 1,200,000 |
For anything above this, or for business/mixed income, check the full slab structure on FBR’s site before you file — don’t estimate.
Why bother if your income is below the taxable threshold?
File anyway. A nil return costs nothing and takes minutes, but it keeps you on the ATL and protects you from non-filer treatment which means higher withholding tax on banking transactions, property purchases, and vehicle registration. Skipping it to “save time” costs you more later.
Mistakes that cost people time (and money)
- Filing the wrong form — simplified vs. normal return confusion is the most common one
- Waiting until late September — the portal slows to a crawl, and mistakes made in a rush are hard to fix under deadline pressure
- Filing once and stopping — missing consecutive years can get you reclassified as inactive, undoing your filer status
- Ignoring freelance/foreign income — FBR has specifically tightened rules on digital income from platforms like Upwork and Fiverr; this income is taxable and needs to be declared
Useful links
- FBR IRIS Portal (file here): iris.fbr.gov.pk
- Official FBR Filing Guide: fbr.gov.pk/categ/file-income-tax-return
