FBR Suggests Tax Relief for Salaried Class in Upcoming Budget

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood confirmed on Wednesday that the upcoming federal budget for 2025-26 will be challenging, offering no sales tax concessions or reductions, with the exception of specific tax relief for the salaried class.

This statement regarding tax relief for the salaried class was made during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue at the Parliament House in Islamabad, chaired by MNA Syed Naveed Qamar.

Joining the meeting online from Karachi, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb also verified that the government is actively considering tax relief for the salaried class in the next federal budget (2025-26).

Sources indicate that the FBR has already finalized working on major tax relief measures aimed at easing the burden on salaried individuals in the forthcoming budget.

FBR Chief Warns of ‘Highly Challenging’ Revenue Targets

Elsewhere during the meeting, Langrial warned that meeting revenue targets in the upcoming budget would also be highly challenging. He mentioned that the FBR tax shortfall had soared to a staggering Rs833 billion during the first 10 months of the fiscal year.

The tax chief said that the difficult situation would severely limit the government’s ability to provide tax relief in the upcoming budget. “However, we are planning to reduce taxes on the salaried class,” Langrial said, without specifying the extent of the relief.

By the end of March, the salaried class had contributed a record Rs391 billion in taxes, 56% or Rs140 billion more compared to the previous year, and 1,420% higher than the amount paid by traders. Despite imposing an additional Rs1.3 trillion in taxes in the last budget, the FBR still ended up with an Rs833 billion shortfall.