You Got an FBR Notice. Here Is What Each One Means and What to Do

Compliance · FBR notices

An FBR notice is not an accusation. It is a request with a clock attached. What matters is which section it cites.

All Pakistan Taxes desk · 16 August 2026

An FBR notice arriving in your IRIS inbox is not, in itself, an accusation of anything.
It is a procedural step, and the section of the Income Tax Ordinance it cites tells you
precisely what is being asked and how much trouble you are in. Reading that section number
before doing anything else is the single most useful thing a taxpayer can do.

The three notices most Pakistani taxpayers encounter are issued under sections 114, 176
and 122. They look similar on screen and they are not remotely equivalent in weight.

Section 114(4): the return that never arrived

This is by far the most common notice, and usually the least alarming. It is generated
when FBR’s systems indicate you were required to file a return for a given tax year and no
return was received. The trigger is rarely a human decision — property registrations,
vehicle purchases, bank activity and withholding statements all feed the same database, and
a taxpayer who appears in that data without a matching return gets flagged automatically.

The response window is typically seven to ten days, though you should work from the date
printed on the notice rather than any general rule. Two responses are valid. You file the
outstanding return through IRIS, or you submit a written explanation setting out why you
were not liable to file in the first place.

What happens if you let the deadline pass

FBR proceeds to a best-judgement assessment. In practice this means the department
estimates your income from its own records and from comparable taxpayers in your bracket,
then raises a demand on that estimate. The figure is unlikely to flatter you, and displacing
it afterwards requires you to prove a negative — considerably harder than filing the
return would have been. If you have never registered, our
guide to registration and
ATL inclusion covers the groundwork.

Section 176: a call for information

A 176 notice is a formal request for records. It is not an assessment, it does not
allege underpayment, and it does not by itself carry a penalty. Commonly requested items
include bank statements, business accounts, property documents, purchase invoices and
salary records.

Answer it precisely and narrowly. The notice specifies what is wanted, and supplying
material beyond that list is a common and avoidable error — unrelated documents invite
questions the department had not thought to ask, and once disclosed they cannot be
withdrawn.

A Section 176 notice asks a question. A Section 122 notice states a position.
Responding to the second as though it were the first is how a manageable query becomes an
assessment.

Section 122: an assessment about to be amended

This is the serious one. Under section 122(5A), FBR is giving notice that it intends to
amend an assessment you have already filed, typically by disallowing claimed expenses or
bringing in income it says was omitted. Unlike the other two, the department has formed a
view and is inviting you to displace it.

An effective reply addresses each disallowed item separately and attaches the documentary
evidence supporting that specific item. A general letter asserting that the assessment is
wrong, without item-by-item substantiation, will not survive scrutiny and wastes the response
window.

This is also the point at which professional representation usually justifies its cost.
Routine 114 and 176 notices are manageable in-house provided your records are orderly. A 122
turns on legal argument about what the Ordinance permits, and that is not a good place to
learn on the job.

Rules that apply whatever the section

• Respond through IRIS. It creates a dated, official record of what you
  submitted and when. Registered post is a reasonable backup but not a substitute.
• Treat the deadline as immovable. If you genuinely need longer, request
  an extension in writing before the date expires. A request made afterwards carries little
  weight.
• Retain everything permanently. The reply, the document pack and the
  IRIS submission confirmation. Matters are reopened years later, and the confirmation is
  what proves you replied.
• Reply even when the notice is wrong. A notice issued in error still runs
  its clock. Say in writing that it is mistaken and why; do not simply wait for it to be
  withdrawn.

Errors that turn a query into an assessment

Telephoning the officer is not a response. Conversations leave no record on the file, and
the deadline continues to run while you believe the matter has been settled verbally.

Filing a hurried revised return is the other frequent misstep. Amending a return before
you have understood the objection can concede ground you did not need to concede, and
reversing that position later is difficult. Establish what is actually being challenged
first.

Why notices have become more frequent

FBR now reconciles declared figures against third-party data as a matter of routine.
Banking records, property registrations, vehicle purchases and withholding statements are
matched against returns automatically, and a discrepancy generates correspondence without
anyone selecting you for attention.

The practical implication is that a return which reconciles cleanly against the data FBR
already holds is worth more than one which merely reports the right total. Our
step-by-step filing guide
for Tax Year 2026 covers the process, and
the
penalty regime for late filers sets out the cost of leaving it.

Common questions