Filing a return
When FBR Amends Your Assessment
Your filed return is treated as an assessment order deemed issued by the Commissioner, and section 122 lets him amend it within five years from the end of the financial year in which that order issued. No amendment can be made without giving you an opportunity of being heard, and that applies even to the broad power to correct an assessment prejudicial to revenue.
We do this for clients:Tax Advisory and FBR Representation in Pakistan
Where these figures come from
- Statutory basis
- Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, as amended by the Finance Act 2026, for tax year 2027 (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027).
- Last checked against the statute
- by BarrioVibe, which files income tax returns through FBR IRIS.
These figures are an estimate computed from the rates above, not tax advice for your situation. Your return depends on facts a form cannot see, so treat the number as a starting point and speak to us before you file on it.
An amended assessment can itself be amended
Section 122(4) allows further amendment of an assessment that has already been amended, and it says so in terms: as many times as may be necessary. So a first amendment is not a settlement.
The window for that is the later of two periods: five years from the end of the financial year of the original order, or one year from the end of the financial year in which the amended order issued. The second limb is what keeps a late amendment open a little longer, and it is why a revision late in the five-year window does not close the matter the following month.
Revising your own return is an amendment too
Section 122(3) treats a revised return under section 114(6) as an amended assessment made by the Commissioner, deemed issued on the day you furnished it. Your revision is not a request that someone then processes; it takes effect as an order.
That is worth knowing alongside the conditions on revising. Approval is not needed at all within sixty days of the original filing, is deemed granted if the Commissioner does not pass a written order within sixty days of your asking, is deemed granted where the revision declares more income or less loss, and must be granted for a bona fide omission or wrong statement.
Where the return is automatically corrected instead
Not everything that changes a return goes through section 122. A complete return is run through an automated system that can correct arithmetical errors, disallow claims that are wrong on the face of the return, and adjust losses.
FBR must issue a system-generated notice first and consider your response, and if you do not respond within thirty days the adjustment is made anyway. If no adjustment happens within six months of filing, the return as you declared it stands. So a small correction arriving shortly after filing is usually this rather than an assessment being reopened.
Questions
The questionspeople ask
How long can FBR reopen my tax return?
Five years from the end of the financial year in which the assessment order was issued or treated as issued, under section 122(2). For a self-assessed return that means the financial year you filed in, not the tax year the return covers.
Can FBR amend my assessment without telling me?
No. Section 122(9) provides that no assessment shall be amended or further amended unless the taxpayer has been provided with an opportunity of being heard, and the broad power in section 122(5A) is expressly made subject to it.
Is my filed return an assessment order?
Yes. Section 120 treats a complete return as an assessment order deemed issued by the Commissioner on the day it was furnished. That is why section 122 speaks of amending an assessment rather than making one.
Can an amended assessment be amended again?
Yes. Section 122(4) permits further amendment as many times as may be necessary, within the later of five years from the end of the financial year of the original order or one year from the end of the financial year in which the amended order issued.
Does revising my own return count as an amendment?
Yes. Section 122(3) treats a revised return under section 114(6) as an amended assessment made by the Commissioner and deemed issued on the day you furnished it.
What is section 122(5A)?
The power to amend where the Commissioner considers an assessment erroneous in so far as it is prejudicial to the interest of revenue. It is the widest power in the section and it opens by making itself subject to sub-section (9), the right to be heard.
Does the five-year limit apply to foreign assets?
Not in the same way. Section 111(2)(ii) charges an unexplained offshore asset in the tax year immediately preceding the year the Commissioner discovers it, and section 123(1A) allows a provisional assessment at any time for an undeclared offshore asset.
FBR corrected my return a few weeks after filing. Is that an amended assessment?
Probably not. A complete return is run through an automated process that corrects arithmetical errors and disallows claims wrong on the face of the return, after a system-generated notice. If no adjustment is made within six months of filing, the return as declared stands.
Also here
Relatedguides
Filing your return
The IRIS screens in order with the amount codes you will actually see, the wealth statement nobody expects, and what it costs if you are late.
Paying your tax
What a PSID is, where the seven-day expiry story actually comes from, which banks take which channels, and what to do when the receipt does not appear.
Audit selection
Why one kind of selection comes with reasons and the other does not, the three-year immunity most people have never heard of, and what happens if you do not produce records.
A notice is the start of a process, not the end
Section 122(9) means an assessment cannot be amended without hearing you. Answering properly and on time is the whole of that opportunity, and it is worth doing with someone who has read the file.