FBR halts advance tax notices for salary-only earners
The Federal Board of Revenue has directed tax officials to stop issuing advance income tax notices to salaried individuals whose only income comes from their jobs. According to sources, FBR chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial issued the instructions to ease the tax burden on salaried taxpayers who had reportedly received notices requiring quarterly advance tax payments. The FBR has not announced a blanket exemption from advance tax for everyone who earns a salary.
The directive applies to people who depend entirely on their salaries for their livelihood. Salaried individuals who earn additional income from other sources may still have to pay adjustable advance income tax, with their obligations depending on the applicable tax rules, according to the sources. Tax collected from eligible taxpayers would be adjusted against their final tax liability under the relevant legal provisions, they said.
The move comes amid growing concern about financial pressure on salaried households and increasing calls for a fairer distribution of the tax burden among different income groups. Former finance minister Asad Umar has also criticised Pakistan's tax structure, claiming in an interview with ARY News that salaried individuals paid more than Rs600 billion in taxes last year, against his claim that landlords contributed less than Rs10 billion. He argued that weak economic growth, inflation and rising poverty had added to public financial pressures. Those figures are Umar's claims and were not independently verified in the report.
Umar also questioned the government's petroleum taxation policies, claiming the petroleum levy on petrol had risen from Rs50 to Rs117 per litre and estimating that the government collected around Rs1.6 trillion through the levy during the previous year. Those figures likewise represent his claims and were not independently verified.
The FBR's latest directive addresses advance tax notices, while broader concerns about the fairness of the tax burden remain under debate.
