The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced that its online tax systems will be temporarily unavailable from 12:30 a.m. on August 8 until 5:00 p.m. on August 10 due to scheduled maintenance.
According to the FBR, the IRIS portal will remain completely offline during the maintenance period. The Sales Tax Withholding and Electronic Evading Prevention System (SWEEPS), Point-of-Sale (POS) registration services, digital invoicing, payment processing and other linked online services will also be suspended.
The revenue authority said taxpayers will be unable to access any FBR online services during the outage and advised individuals and businesses to complete urgent tax returns, payments, registrations and other transactions before the maintenance window begins.
Separately, the FBR recently announced a simplified tax scheme for small shopkeepers, under which registered businesses displaying a Green Plate will be protected from routine raids by Inland Revenue officers.
Under the proposed scheme, eligible shopkeepers with an annual turnover of up to Rs200 million will be able to file simplified tax returns through the IRIS portal or a mobile application using forms available in Urdu and other regional languages.
The scheme proposes a 1% tax on annual turnover and requires participants to pay a minimum tax of Rs25,000.
The Green Plate will display a QR code, the taxpayer’s National Tax Number (NTN), the shopkeeper’s name and business address.
The FBR said participation in the scheme will be voluntary, allowing traders who choose not to join to continue filing returns under the existing tax system.
The authority added that Tier-1 retailers, jewellers, owners of multiple shops, and professionals such as doctors, engineers and lawyers will not be eligible for the scheme.