Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Muhammad Jawed Bilwani has urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take immediate notice of the ongoing technical failures in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)’s IRIS portal, disrupting tax compliance and causing grave difficulties for businesses across Pakistan.
In a formal letter addressed to the prime minister, Bilwani highlighted that thousands of tax-compliant businesses are unable to file their sales tax returns due to serious flaws in the IRIS system. He noted that the portal has arbitrarily restricted the Unit of Measurement to only “kilograms,” despite many industries relying on alternative units such as number of pieces, liters, or meters.
“This kind of technical oversight reflects a shocking lack of understanding of the diverse nature of our industries, including bulk manufacturers, pharmaceutical, and shoe manufacturers, etc.,” he said. “It is technically incompetent and administratively unjustifiable. The consequence is that businesses are being penalized through no fault of their own,” he added.
Despite assurances from FBR that the issue would be addressed following its acknowledgment on March 20, 2025, no meaningful improvement has occurred. “The matter remains unresolved, and businesses are facing severe consequences simply for attempting to comply with a flawed system,” he said.
The KCCI president also expressed disappointment over the indifferent attitude of senior FBR officials, recalling that he was made to wait an hour for a 9 a.m. meeting with the member (sales tax) at the FBR Head Office in Islamabad. He noted that Chief Sales Tax Officer Ali Adnan Zaidi had admitted the FBR had received similar complaints from other stakeholders but no remedial action had been taken so far.
Bilwani lamented that KCCI has made repeated attempts to engage the FBR chairman, member (sales tax), and other senior officials through letters and phone calls, but have received no response. “This persistent neglect underscores a larger institutional apathy not just toward KCCI but toward the entire business community that has been struggling under these systemic failures,” he said.
Warning of broader consequences, Bilwani said ongoing technical failures and bureaucratic inaction are eroding business confidence, discouraging documentation, and worsening the trust deficit between taxpayers and the government. “Pakistan’s economy cannot afford such inefficiencies, especially when ease of doing business and restoring trust in institutions should be national priorities,” he emphasized.
The KCCI president called for the immediate resolution of technical glitches in the IRIS portal, accountability of responsible FBR officials, and implementation of stakeholder-informed reforms to prevent such issues in future. He also called for the establishment of a professional and responsive mechanism for engagement between FBR and the business community. “The future of our economy depends on the government’s ability to listen, respond, and act. We hope the prime minister will intervene to ensure this issue is resolved without further delay,” he added.