The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has rolled out a new electronic system to scrutinise sales tax returns and automatically flag discrepancies to taxpayers before any legal action is taken against them.
The FBR issued S.R.O. 1655(I)/2026 on Saturday, amending the Sales Tax Rules, 2006, to insert a new Chapter XII-A titled “Procedure for Electronic Scrutiny and Intimation of Issues Detected by the Computerised System.”
Under the new mechanism, the computerised system of FBR will issue online advice or advance intimation through IRIS whenever it detects factual or legal errors and discrepancies in sales tax returns.
Registered persons will be given at least seven days to clarify the issues, rectify errors or take corrective action before any legal or penal proceedings are initiated against them. Advance intimation may also be issued directly by the Officer of Inland Revenue with jurisdiction over the registered person.
If a taxpayer fails to respond within the given period, a reminder will be issued, allowing another response window of not less than seven days. The new chapter covers automated scrutiny, analysis and cross-matching of sales tax returns and other data available with the FBR through its computerised system.
All records of discrepancies detected, intimations issued and responses received will be shared with the concerned Inland Revenue officer and maintained on the system dashboard, with the entire process implemented through Change Request Forms.
The concerned Inland Revenue officer will examine the response of each taxpayer and take appropriate action, where necessary, under the relevant provisions of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, and its associated rules.
