Prism Reflections: Why should we tell the FBR what the FBR already knows?

Why This Matters

Key context: <div class="raw-html-embed-wrapper" style="width: 100%;"> <iframe class="raw-html-embed" srcdoc=" &lt;!doctype html&gt; &lt;html lang=&quot;en&quot;&gt; &lt;head&gt; &lt;meta charset=&quot;utf-8&quot;&gt; &lt;meta name=&quot;viewport&quot; content=&quot;width=device-width, initial-scale=1&quot;&gt; &lt;title&gt;Why must taxpayers tell FBR what it already knows?&lt;/title&gt; &lt;link rel=&quot;preconnect&quot; href=&quot;https://fonts.googleapis.com&quot;&gt; &lt;link rel=&quot;stylesheet&quot; href=&quot;https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Source+Serif+4:opsz,wght@8..60,400;8..60,600;8..60,700&amp;amp;family=Public+Sans:wght@500;600;700&amp;amp;display=swap&quot;&gt; &lt;style&gt; body{margin:0;background:#FFFFFF} a{color:#0E7A43}a:hover{color:#095A31} .hl{background:#D4EEDD;color:#10331F;padding:1px 3px;border-radius:2px;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone} .rq{text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:#7B4BB7;text-decoration-thickness:3px;text-underline-offset:6px} .p{margin:0 0 26px} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;/head&gt; &lt;body&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;width: 100%; background: #FFFFFF; color: #1C2630; font-family: &apos;Source Serif 4&apos;, Georgia, serif&quot;&gt; &lt;article style=&quot;max-width: 700px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 64px 16px 96px; box-sizing: border-box&quot;&gt; &lt;div style=&quot;font-size: 20px; line-height: 1.72&quot;&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Imagine an ordinary taxpayer sitting before a computer on a Sunday morning. The salary certificate is beside her. Bank statements are ready. Details of property, vehicles and savings have been collected. Tax has already been deducted from salary and perhaps from numerous other transactions during the year. She knows what she earned, what she owns and, broadly, what she owes. Surely, she thinks, this should not take very long.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;She logs into IRIS.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Two hours later, she is considerably less certain—not merely about the tax return, but almost about her own financial existence. That, unfortunately, appears to describe the experience of many taxpayers.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Responses to my recent article on the time allowed for filing income tax returns were illuminating. &lt;span class=&quot;rq&quot;&gt;One reader maintained that filing takes only a few minutes and questioned why taxpayers need months.&lt;/span&gt; Fair enough. For a person familiar with IRIS, possessing uncomplicated affairs and fortunate enough to encounter no technical difficulty, that may indeed be true.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href=&quot;[ARTICLE LINK]&quot; style=&quot;display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; align-items: center; gap: 16px; margin: 8px 0 34px; padding: 16px 0; border-top: 2px solid #0E7A43; border-bottom: 1px solid #E2E5E8; text-decoration: none; color: #1C2630&quot;&gt; &lt;img src=&quot;https://i.dawn.com/large/2026/10/21083952cae65c2.webp&quot; alt=&quot;Thumbnail for: We were ready with our tax filings, was the FBR?&quot; style=&quot;width: 180px; height: 110px; object-fit: cover; border-radius: 4px; background: #E2E5E8; flex: 0 0 auto; font-size: 12px; color: #4A5560&quot;&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;flex: 1 1 220px; min-width: 0&quot;&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;display: block; font-family: &apos;Public Sans&apos;, system-ui, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.12em; color: #0E7A43&quot;&gt;READ ALSO&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style=&quot;display: block; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.35; margin-top: 4px&quot;&gt;We were ready with our tax filings, was the FBR?&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;However, &lt;span class=&quot;rq&quot;&gt;another regular taxpayer reported trying unsuccessfully for two weeks and making 72 attempts to access the system.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span class=&quot;rq&quot;&gt;Others complained that amendments to one part of the return require revisiting connected sections; that increasingly minute details of assets and income are demanded; and that figures sometimes migrate from previous returns in ways taxpayers find difficult to correct.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;One particularly interesting comment came from a salaried taxpayer who asked a deceptively simple question: &lt;span class=&quot;rq&quot;&gt;why should someone whose only income is salary, and whose tax has already been deducted at source, be required to negotiate a complicated annual exercise at all?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;These experiences may differ, but collectively they raise a question more important than whether IRIS is technically functional: For whom is the return actually designed?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Tax administrators understandably think in terms of sections, codes, withholding categories, heads of income, adjustable taxes, wealth reconciliation and statutory declarations. Ordinary citizens do not. They think differently. &lt;em&gt;I earned this much. My employer deducted this much tax. I have one house. I bought a car. I have money in two bank accounts. I sold nothing this year. I have no foreign income. Now tell me what you need.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;A genuinely taxpayer-friendly system should begin there.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Suppose upon logging into IRIS, instead of confronting numerous tabs, codes and fields, taxpayers were welcomed with a few simple questions:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol style=&quot;margin: 0 0 30px; padding: 4px 0 4px 22px; border-left: 3px solid #0E7A43; list-style: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 12px; font-family: &apos;Public Sans&apos;, system-ui, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.45&quot;&gt; &lt;li&gt;Were you employed during the year?&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Did you receive income from any source other than salary?&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Did you carry on a business?&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Did you buy or sell property, shares or any other significant asset?&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Do you have foreign income or assets?&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Depending upon the answers, irrelevant portions of the return could simply disappear.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Why should a salaried individual with one source of income navigate screens designed to accommodate business profits, complicated investments or multiple commercial activities? Conversely, a businessperson, association of persons or company would naturally be taken to the more detailed portions appropriate to its affairs. &lt;span class=&quot;hl&quot;&gt;Simplification does not mean treating every taxpayer alike. It means asking each taxpayer only what is relevant to that taxpayer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;The FBR already recognises this distinction to some extent. Its own guidance provides a separate declaration form for qualifying salaried persons, while IRIS remains the portal through which online returns are filed. The problem is that simplification should not merely exist as another form or menu. It should define the taxpayer&apos;s entire experience.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;There is an even more obvious possibility. &lt;span class=&quot;hl&quot;&gt;Why should taxpayers repeatedly tell the FBR what the FBR already knows?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;FBR&apos;s own Maloomat (Information) portal acknowledges that it possesses third-party and internally generated information concerning withholding payments, properties, vehicles, travel, credit-card transactions, debit transactions and other financial activity. Existing taxpayers can access some of that information through IRIS. Then why not use it intelligently?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;A salaried taxpayer&apos;s employer has already reported deductions. Banks have reported withholding. Property and vehicle transactions increasingly leave electronic trails. Previous wealth statements sit within FBR&apos;s own system.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Instead of asking: “Tell us everything again.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;IRIS could say: “This is what we already have. Please confirm, correct or supplement it.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;That single change would alter the psychology of tax compliance.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Imagine opening your return and finding your salary and tax deducted already populated. Your previously declared assets appear alongside them. A vehicle purchased during the year is flagged for confirmation. Bank withholding is displayed. The system asks whether anything is missing.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;You review. You correct. You add what the FBR could not know. You submit.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;hl&quot;&gt;Technology would then be doing what technology is supposed to do: removing work rather than merely relocating bureaucracy from paper to screen.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;The FBR already requires wealth statements to reconcile mathematically before submission. Its own guidance states that a wealth statement cannot be successfully submitted unless the change in wealth corresponds with income and expenditure. That may serve a legitimate tax purpose, but the portal should help taxpayers understand why a difference exists rather than merely preventing submission.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;If the reconciliation fails by Rs. 200,000, the taxpayer should not have to wander through different screens searching for the missing figure. The system should say: Your declared wealth has increased by Rs. 200,000 more than the resources presently explained. Please check the following possible areas. That is guidance. A red error message is not.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;There is another misconception worth addressing. &lt;span class=&quot;hl&quot;&gt;Making returns easier does not mean weakening tax enforcement.&lt;/span&gt; Quite the opposite.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Complexity is the friend of neither compliance nor enforcement. It creates mistakes, dependence upon intermediaries and enormous quantities of unreliable data. An accurately completed simple return is considerably more useful than an elaborate return filled incorrectly because the taxpayer did not understand what was being asked.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;Sophisticated taxpayers with businesses, multiple income streams, capital transactions or corporate structures will continue to need detailed returns and professional advice. Tax practitioners will hardly become redundant. But should an educated salaried citizen with straightforward affairs need a tax consultant simply to tell the government what the government largely knows already?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;That should become the basic test of reform: Can an ordinary person with ordinary financial affairs file an accurate return without professional assistance? If not, we have digitized taxation without genuinely simplifying it.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;rq&quot;&gt;One reader responding to my earlier article put the problem in five words: “Digitization cannot change mindsets.”&lt;/span&gt; Precisely.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;A complicated bureaucracy transferred from files and registers onto a computer does not automatically become modern administration. At worst, it becomes electronic bureaucracy—faster perhaps, prettier certainly, but still designed around the convenience of the institution rather than the citizen.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot;&gt;The ideal tax return need not be intellectually impressive. It should be almost boring. Login. Confirm identity. Verify pre-filled information. Answer a few relevant questions. Add anything missing. Review the tax computation. Reconcile assets with guided assistance. Press Submit. And finally receive a clear message: Your return has been successfully filed. Thank you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=&quot;p&quot; style=&quot;margin-bottom: 0&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;hl&quot;&gt;The purpose of a tax administration should not be to test how well citizens can navigate its internal architecture.&lt;/span&gt; Its task is to collect the correct tax while making voluntary compliance as painless as reasonably possible. Taxpayers willing to discharge their obligations should be assisted, not exhausted. After all, filing a return is already a legal duty. There is no reason to make it an obstacle course as well.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/article&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt;" style="width: 100%; min-height: 50px; max-height: 30000px; border: none; overflow: hidden; display: block;" scrolling="no"></iframe> <script> (function() { var minH = 50; var maxH = 30000; // Capture the specific iframe for this script instance synchronously var scripts = document.getElementsByTagName('script'); var currentScript = document.currentScript || scripts[scripts.length - 1]; var wrapper = currentScript; while (wrapper && (!wrapper.classList || !wrapper.classList.contains('raw-html-embed-wrapper'))) { wrapper = wrapper.parentNode; } if (!wrapper) return; var iframe = wrapper.querySelector('.raw-html-embed'); if (!iframe || iframe._rawHtmlResizerAttached) return; iframe._rawHtmlResizerAttached = true; function setupScrollCoordination(d) { if (iframe._scrollCoordinationAttached) return; iframe._scrollCoordinationAttached = true; // 1. 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