The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Monday extended the deadline for the filing of income tax returns for the tax year 2019 until December 31.

A notification issued by the FBR said the date of filing of total income/statements of final taxation for individuals and associations of persons for TY19, which were originally due on September 30, has been further extended until Dec 31.

The date of filing returns for companies which had paid 95 per cent of the admitted tax liability on or before Sept 30 has also been extended to Dec 31, the circular added.

Last month, the government had given an extension for filing tax returns until Dec 16.

The FBR has set a target of tax returns of four million for tax year 2019.

The board had received 2.51m tax returns for the first time in its history for TY18 as against 1.49m returns filed for TY17.

The last date for filing of income tax returns for tax year 2018 was extended eight times consecutively to facilitate individuals to file their returns.