The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Friday announced 5.9 million tax returns have been filed as of Oct. 31, a 17.6% increase over the 5 million returns filed by the same date last year, highlighting growing voluntary compliance and taxpayer awareness.
In a statement, the tax body said 3.6 million of the 5.9 million taxpayers had also submitted tax payments, marking an 18.6% year-on-year increase in taxpayers who contributed revenue with their returns. Overall, individual taxpayers have paid nearly Rs. 9 billion more in 2025 than 2024, with revenues growing from Rs. 60 billion to Rs. 69 billion, a 15% increase. The FBR said these figures were accurate as of 7 p.m. on Friday, adding it expected them to rise further by the close of deadline at midnight as the process of return filing is ongoing.
Appreciating the growing cooperation of citizens, the FBR has reiterated its commitment to facilitating honest taxpayers through simplified processes, digital tools, and responsive communication, ensuring that Pakistan’s tax system becomes more fair, transparent, and inclusive.
The tax body attributed the robust growth in compliance to an extensive outreach campaign and the whole-of-government efforts led by the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Information. It said the campaign had strived to raise awareness among taxpayers about their civic duty and the convenience of filing returns through digital platforms.
The campaign featured nationwide robocalls and WhatsApp messages to remind citizens of their civic duty to file tax returns. Additionally, the FBR sent several behaviorally informed messages to taxpayers using third-party data, beginning with congratulatory notes, followed by informational messages about rights and obligations, and finally cautionary reminders, with nearly 800,000 such nudges issued across the country.
These initiatives were complemented by targeted emails to around 70,000 taxpayers, highlighting indicative income levels of comparable peers to encourage accurate and timely filing. The FBR stressed that there would be no further extensions to the filing deadline, but noted that taxpayers facing genuine hardships may approach their respective field formations through FBR’s IRIS system for an extension.