Pakistan sets record with 4.4 million income tax returns for tax year 2024

Pakistan's tax department has received a record 4.436 million income tax returns for the tax year 2024, over 100% increase from the 2.17 million returns filed for the previous year.

This surge is attributed to the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) stringent stance against non-filers, which has encouraged the public to comply voluntarily to avoid stringent enforcement measures.

As of October 14, the final day for filing, FBR reported that out of the 4.436 million returns, 1.636 million were nil-income returns, meaning no tax was deposited with these filings.

This is a notable rise from the 778,137 nil-income returns filed out of the 2.166 million total returns last year.

The total number of income tax returns filed for the entire tax year 2023 stood at 6.4 million.

For the current year, the FBR has collected PKR 114 billion in income tax payments compared to PKR 52 billion collected last year.

Additionally, from July 1, 2023, to date, 1.04 million individuals registered with the FBR, including 622,102 nil-filers.

The FBR also registered 450,405 new taxpayers from July 1, 2024, to date, with 307,482 being nil-filers.