Electronic tax return filing made mandatory under new proposal

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance in Pakistan has approved a proposal to make electronic filing of income tax returns mandatory nationwide, specifically through the IRIS system. This move aims to fully phase out manual submissions, which, despite being largely discontinued since 2013, were still occurring in some cities like Gujranwala. Additionally, the committee sanctioned a proposal for companies to submit financial statements in a machine-readable format and introduced an algorithmic settlement mechanism allowing revised tax returns without prior commissioner approval, exempting participants from separate penalties and surcharges. This streamlines tax processes and enhances digital compliance.