Islamabad: The Federal Taxation Commission (FBR) said taxpayers can judge the market value of their movable and immovable assets at their sole discretion, without formal valuation or supporting documents in their 2025 tax returns.
However, this flexibility does not apply to high-civilians who only have stricter reporting requirements under Section 7E of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001. The clarification is in the case of misinformation (in the case of circulating on social media) involving amendments to income tax returns.
So far, FBR has obtained 2.7 million tax returns. At the same time, the Taxation Association requires the extension of the filing deadline.
According to the official statement, the 2025 Income Tax Return issued on July 7 – explicitly requires taxpayers to announce the market value of their assets, as stated on page 66 of the form.
FBR says high net worth individuals are subject to stricter reporting requirements; those who submit returns do not need to be modified
However, recent reviews of submitted returns have shown widespread anomalies: a large number of taxpayers have entered zeros in the asset valuation section, which has raised concerns about compliance and data accuracy.
To solve this problem, FBR limits input to zero in the asset evaluation column. “Now all taxpayers must now declare the value of their assets,” FBR chairman Rashmood said. He stressed that there is no amendment to skeletonize the law – just systematic technical adjustments to prevent abuse.
FBR further explained that the disclosure of asset appraisal data for high net worth individuals is not used to calculate tax liability. Therefore, any inaccuracy in the field will not lead to tax notices.
Even so, taxpayers are urged to declare value reasonably consistent with general market conditions in terms of transparency and integrity.
The statement added that individuals who have submitted their returns will not need to modify or reapply. Asset appraisal entries are neither in tax appraisal nor in consideration of settlement of wealth statements.
It also confirmed that the iris system is fully operational and urged taxpayers to submit returns by the September 30 deadline.
The FBR also rejected misleading claims about amendments to the returns spread on social media and declared that no SRO bones were issued in this regard.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tax Bar Association and the Karachi Tax Bar Association have written to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, calling for an investigation into technical issues affecting returns applications.
They also formally requested an extension of the deadline to ensure that taxpayers are adequately supported in filing their returns.
Posted in Dawn on September 26, 2025
