When must a company file its income tax return, and in what format must its financial statements be attached?

A company never falls below a filing threshold. The Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 makes every company file a return each tax year, sets its deadline by the month its year ends, and, from tax year 2026, requires its financial statements in a format a computer can read, not a scanned or PDF copy.

Who has to file?

Section 114(1) opens with “(a) every company”. Clause (ab), which ties the duty to taxable income above the exempt amount, applies only to persons “other than a company”. So a company with a loss, a company with no business yet, and a company whose income is all under final taxation are all on the list.

What must go with the return?

Section 114(2) says a return must be in the prescribed form with the prescribed annexures, statements or documents, must fully state the particulars the form asks for, and must be accompanied by evidence of payment of the tax due as per the return.

Section 114(2A), substituted by the Finance Act, 2026, requires filing electronically on IRIS and adds a proviso for companies: for tax year 2026 and onwards, the financial statements accompanying the return “shall only be filed in electronically readable file format”.

Section 2(19DA), also inserted by the Finance Act, 2026, defines that format as any digital format where data can be read, extracted, validated and processed by computer systems without human intervention. It names spreadsheet formats such as CSV or XLSX, XML, XBRL and JSON as examples, and excludes “formats primarily designed for human readability, such as PDF, scanned images or photographs”.

When is the return due?

Section 118(2) sets two dates for companies:

Company’s tax year ends	Return due on or before
Any time from 1 January to 30 June	31 December following the end of the tax year
Any other date (1 July to 31 December)	30 September following the end of the tax year

A company on the normal tax year ending 30 June therefore files for tax year 2026 (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026) by 31 December 2026.

Section 119 lets a company apply to the Commissioner for an extension, by the due date, on grounds of absence from Pakistan, sickness or misadventure, or any other reasonable cause. The extension should not exceed fifteen days unless there are exceptional circumstances, and the Chief Commissioner may grant a further period of up to fifteen days. Section 119(6) says an extension does not move the due date for payment of tax for default surcharge purposes.

What happens if the statements are scanned or locked?

The section 182 Table, S. No. 35, covers a person, including a company, who furnishes the return with incomplete or irrelevant particulars or attaches blank or incomplete annexures, statements or documents. An Explanation added by the Finance Act, 2026 says audited financial statements furnished as image files, scanned documents or password-protected files that are illegible or inaccessible to the Inland Revenue authority are deemed blank or incomplete. The penalty column for that entry reads Rs. 500,000 or 10% of the tax chargeable on the taxable income, whichever is higher.

Section 182(2) says no penalty is payable unless the Commissioner, Commissioner (Appeals) or Appellate Tribunal passes a written order after giving the company a hearing.

Worked example (illustrative figures)

Indus Textiles (Pvt) Ltd of Faisalabad closes its accounts on 30 June 2026. Its tax payable for tax year 2026 is Rs. 3,000,000. It files 20 days after 31 December 2026, with no extension.

S. No. 1 of the section 182 Table charges the higher of:

1. 0.1% of tax payable for each day: Rs. 3,000,000 x 0.1% x 20 = Rs. 60,000.
2. Rs. 1,000 for each day: Rs. 1,000 x 20 = Rs. 20,000.

The higher figure is Rs. 60,000, which is above the Rs. 50,000 minimum for cases other than salaried individuals and below the cap of 200% of tax payable. A further proviso reduces the penalty by 75% if the return is filed within one month of the due date. The entry does not say whether that reduction is applied before or after the minimum, so the final figure is not settled by the text alone.

Separately, section 182A keeps the company off the active taxpayers’ list for tax year 2026 unless it pays a surcharge of Rs. 100,000, and a company that misses the due date is not allowed to carry forward any loss for that tax year.

What if the company’s year ends on 31 December?

Its tax year ends outside the January to June window, so section 118(2)(b) applies. Accounts closing on 31 December 2025 mean a return due by 30 September 2026.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a dormant company is exempt. Section 114(1)(a) has no income test for companies.
• Treating 30 September as the company date. For a 30 June year end, section 118(2)(a) gives 31 December. 30 September in section 118(3) is for persons other than a company.
• Uploading signed PDFs of audited accounts. The proviso to section 114(2A) and section 2(19DA) exclude PDF from tax year 2026.
• Losing a loss by filing late. Section 182A(1)(b) denies carry forward of the loss for a year whose return was not filed by the due date.

What to check in the official text

Read section 114(1) and (2), the proviso to section 114(2A), section 2(19DA), section 118(2), section 119, S. Nos. 1 and 35 of the section 182 Table, and section 182A. The exact file types, schema and IRIS steps the Board accepts are set by the Board and are not part of this corpus. Check whether the Board has notified any general extension of the due date for the year in question.