ISLAMABAD: The number of income tax returns filed in Pakistan has increased by 45% over the past year, with nearly 5.77 million returns submitted by September 30, according to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) data.
The FBR recorded 5,767,384 returns by the deadline, compared with 3,980,692 during the corresponding period last year, showing an increase of around 1.79 million filings.
The number of returns has nearly tripled over the past three years. In September 2023, around 1.92 million returns had been filed.
Non-salaried taxpayers accounted for the largest increase. Their filings rose by around 60% to 3.81 million from 2.38 million a year earlier. This category includes traders, shopkeepers, professionals and self-employed individuals and contributed roughly 80% of the overall increase.
Salaried taxpayers filed around 1.9 million returns, up 22% year-on-year, while returns submitted by associations of persons increased 33% to 53,756.
The data also showed a 37% increase in returns declaring income above the taxable threshold, with the number reaching nearly 2.5 million compared with 1.82 million a year earlier.
The number of taxpayers reporting tax payments in their returns also increased by 38% to 3.35 million. Among non-salaried taxpayers, those showing tax payments rose by around 50% to 1.75 million.
Tax paid through individual returns increased 11% to Rs34.5 billion, while tax payments reported by associations of persons rose 16% to Rs3.7 billion.
However, company filings declined sharply. Only 7,953 company returns were submitted by September 30, compared with 11,206 during the same period last year. Tax paid through company returns also fell from Rs49 billion to Rs39.1 billion.
Overall tax paid through filed returns stood at Rs77.3 billion, down around 7% from Rs83.3 billion a year earlier.
The rise in filings comes as the FBR expands its use of data from banks, property records, vehicle registrations and withholding statements to identify individuals who may have taxable income but have not filed returns.
Despite the increase in filings, around 39% of the returns submitted this year were nil returns, broadly in line with the previous year.
The figures show a significant increase in tax return filing, although the growth in the number of returns has not resulted in a corresponding rise in tax collected through those returns.
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