People say they are confused as if the old tax return forms will be valid since the new forms are yet to be updated as per the new Income Tax Act-2023 (ITA-2023) that came into effect from June 22.
The existing return forms, designed as per the Income Tax Ordinance-1984, have remained unchanged.
The time for submission of income tax returns by individuals for this assessment year started on July 1 last and will continue until November 30.
Although the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is now accepting the existing return forms, taxpayers and tax experts are in a dilemma as some fiscal measures on computation of taxes and expenditures changed under the new law.
Tax practitioners said the submission of returns under the new law in old forms may result in unintentional mistakes by taxpayers which may be subject to auditing in future.
Most of the tax returns are submitted in the month of November as the taxpayers wait for the last moment every year.
However, many of the taxpayers are compelled to submit tax returns as the proof of submission return (PSR) has been made mandatory for 44 types of services.
Tax officials said that a committee has been formed to prepare the return forms carefully so that no confusion arises in future.
They said the existing taxpayers would be able to avail the services with their last fiscal year's PSR until November 30, 2023.
Only the new taxpayers who would require PSR this year may face problems until issuance of new return forms, they added.
