Most of us feel a small knot in the stomach when someone mentions a “tax return”. We picture stacks of paper, a consultant’s fee, and a long queue at a tax office.

The good news is that none of that is needed any more.

If you are a salaried person, you can file your return yourself, from home, on the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) online portal, IRIS.

It is free and with your papers in hand it usually takes under an hour.

This guide walks you through it, one click at a time.

For Tax Year 2026, the last date to file is Oct 31.

Why should I bother filing at all?

Think of your tax return as the yearly hisaab (account) you settle at your neighbourhood shop.

All year, your employer has been paying tax on your behalf every month, just like items going onto a shop’s khata (record). The return is the day you sit down with the shopkeeper, match the totals and sign off.

If the shop owes you, you get it back. If you owe a little, you clear it. Either way, the book is closed and you walk away with a clean slate.

Once your hisaab is settled, your name goes onto the FBR’s “Active Taxpayers List” (ATL). That is what people mean when they say someone is a “filer”.

Being a filer matters in everyday life. Non-filers pay noticeably higher tax on things like bank transactions, buying a car or property, and other big-ticket dealings.

And being late has become expensive. From this year, an individual who misses the deadline must pay a surcharge of Rs 25,000 to get back onto the ATL. Until last year it was Rs 1,000.

Do I need to file?

You should file if any of these apply to you for the year July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026:

• Your salary was more than Rs600,000 for the year (Rs50,000 a month).
• You own a car with an engine capacity above 1,000cc, or own a plot or house of 500 square yards or more, or a flat in a city.
• You earned rent, profit on savings, dividends or business income.
• You want to enjoy filer rates on banking, property or vehicle deals.

A common misunderstanding that comes up every tax season is the following: “My employer already cuts tax from my salary, so I’m covered.”

You are not. Your employer pays the tax, but only you can file the return. Without it, you will not appear on the ATL.

A simple rule of thumb: if in doubt, file. Even if you owe nothing, a return showing zero tax still makes you a filer.

What does ‘Tax Year 2026’ mean?

This one confuses almost everyone.

Tax Year 2026 simply means the income you earned from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. It is named after the year in which it ends.

So the return you are filing now, in October 2026, is for the salary you received over the last financial year.

What do I need before I start?

Keep these ready before you open the website. IRIS can be slow during the filing season, so the less you have to hunt for midway, the better.

• Your Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC)
• A mobile number registered in your own name, and an email address you can open.
• Your salary certificate (also called the annual tax deduction certificate) from your employer. It shows your total salary and the total tax deducted for the year. Ask your HR or accounts department.
• Tax deducted on other things, such as your mobile phone bills, electricity bills, car token tax, and profit on bank savings. Your bank can give you a withholding tax certificate.
• A list of what you own and what you owe on June 30, 2026: property, car, cash at home, bank balances, gold, any loans.
• Rough figures for your household expenses for the year: rent, utilities, school fees, travel and so on.
• Last year’s return, if you filed one. It makes the wealth statement much easier.

Tip: write all these figures down in a notebook or a simple spreadsheet first. Typing them into IRIS from a ready sheet is quick and stress-free.

Step 1: How do I register if this is my first time?

If you have filed before, skip to Step 2.

• Go to iris.fbr.gov.pk.
• Click “Registration for Unregistered Person”.
• Enter your CNIC (without dashes), your name, your mobile number and your email address. Use a SIM that is registered against your own CNIC; shared or relatives’ numbers are a common cause of trouble.
• FBR will send you two one-time codes: one by SMS and one by email. Enter both.
• You will then receive your login password, again by SMS and email.
• Log in using your CNIC as the user name. You will be asked to fill a short registration form (called Form 181) with your address and source of income. If you are salaried, you will need your employer’s name and National Tax Number (NTN), which Human Resources can give you.
• Submit it. Once accepted, your CNIC number becomes your NTN number.

Step 2: How do I open the return form?

• Log in at iris.fbr.gov.pk with your CNIC and password.
• From the top menu, click “Declaration”, then choose the income tax return.
• Select the period 2026.
• If most of your income comes from salary (more than half), choose Form 114(I). This is the simplified return made for salaried people, and it is by far the easiest.

Your personal details will already be filled in from your registration. Just check them.

Step 3: How do I enter my salary?

Take out your salary certificate. You need two numbers from it:

• Total salary for the year.

• Total tax deducted by your employer.

Enter them in the salary section exactly as they appear. Do not round off and do not estimate. The figures should match what your employer has reported to FBR.

Step 4: How do I claim the tax I have already paid elsewhere?

Throughout the year, small amounts of tax were also taken from you in other places. These are called “withholding taxes” and many of them can be “adjusted”, meaning they count towards your total bill.

Common ones include tax on:

• mobile phone bills

• electricity bills

• car token tax

IRIS often fills some of these in automatically. Check each figure against your bills and certificates, and add anything that is missing.

Going back to our shop: this is like reminding the shopkeeper of the payments you already made on the side. They belong in the hisaab.

Step 5: What is the wealth statement and how do I fill it?

The wealth statement is a snapshot of what you owned and what you owed on 30 June 2026.

You list your:

• Assets: house or plot, car, bank balances, cash in hand, gold and jewellery, investments.

• Liabilities: home loan, car loan, money borrowed from someone.

• Personal expenses for the year: rent, utilities, school fees, travel, and so on.

Here is the part that confuses people. IRIS checks that your story adds up.

What you owned last year + what you earned this year − what you spent = what you own this year.

If these do not match, IRIS shows an “unreconciled amount”. It must come to zero before you can submit.

This is the shopkeeper’s khata again. The opening balance, plus what came in, minus what went out, must equal the closing balance. If it does not, usually an expense or an asset is missing or mistyped. Go back, check your figures, and adjust honestly.

Be truthful here. Penalties for hiding assets or giving misleading information have been raised sharply this year. Declaring what you own is your protection, not a risk.

Step 6: How do I know if I owe anything?

Click “Calculate”. IRIS will work out your tax and compare it with what has already been paid. You will see one of three results:

• Zero: your employer has paid exactly the right amount. This is the most common outcome for salaried people.

• Refundable: you have paid more than you owed. You may claim this back.

• Payable: you owe a little more.

For a sense of scale, here is roughly what a salaried person owes for Tax Year 2026:

If your employer has been deducting tax properly, most of this will already be paid.

Step 7: How do I pay if there is a balance?

• In IRIS, create a payment slip for income tax. This generates a PSID, a payment slip ID number.
• Pay that PSID through your bank’s mobile app, internet banking or at a branch.
• Once paid, you get a CPR (Computerised Payment Receipt) number.
• Enter the CPR number in your return so IRIS knows the tax has been paid.

Step 8: How do I submit?

• Check the unreconciled amount once more. It must be zero.
• Click “Submit”.
• Enter the PIN you created when you first registered.
• IRIS will issue an acknowledgement slip. Download it and keep it safe, along with a copy of your return. This is your proof of filing.

Congratulations. Your hisaab is closed for the year.

Step 9: How do I check that I am now a filer?

Once the ATL is updated, you can check your status in two easy ways:

• By SMS: type ATL, a space, then your 13-digit CNIC, and send it to 9966.

• Online: search your CNIC on the ATL section of FBR’s website.

What if IRIS is slow or keeps giving errors?

You will not be alone. IRIS has been sluggish this season, especially close to the deadline.

• File early. Do not wait for the final day.

• Try during quiet hours, early morning or late at night.

• Click “Save” often. The auto-save feature has been removed this year, so an unsaved page can be lost.

• Keep your figures on paper or in a spreadsheet, so re-entering them is quick if something goes wrong.

• If an error message makes no sense, take a screenshot and contact the FBR’s helpline or a tax practitioner.

Myths vs reality

Myth: “My employer deducts tax, so I don’t need to file.”
Reality: Your employer pays the tax. Only you can file the return.

Myth: “My income is too low to bother.”
Reality: Filing a return showing zero tax still makes you a filer, and that saves you money elsewhere.

Myth: “If I declare my car or plot, I’ll get a notice.”
Reality: It is hiding assets that gets you into trouble, and penalties for that have gone up.

Myth: “I need to pay a consultant.”
Reality: Not for a simple salaried return. This guide is all you need.

When should I get professional help?

You can do a simple salaried return yourself. Consider a tax practitioner if you have:

• A business or freelance income

• More than one property or rental income

• Sold property or shares during the year

• Income or assets abroad

The bottom line

Filing your return is not a favour to the government. It is a small, once-a-year chore that keeps your own finances clean and saves you real money on the big purchases of life: a car, a home, your children’s future.

Gather your papers, set aside an evening, and settle your hisaab.

Do it before Oct 31, and do it once properly. Next year, it will take you half the time.

Dates and rules quoted are as announced by FBR at the time of writing. Please check iris.fbr.gov.pk or FBR’s announcements for any further changes before you file.