The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has extended the deadline for submission of income tax returns for individuals by another month.
According to an order issued by the NBR on Sunday, the return submission deadline has been extended until January 2026 from December 31, 2025.
Earlier, the deadline for online return submission had been extended by one month until December 31.
Under the Income Tax Act 2023, November 30 is the statutory deadline for filing income tax returns for every tax year.
The revenue authorities have extended the deadline under the Section 334 of Income Tax Act 2023 with prior approval of the government.
Preferring anonymity, an NBR senior official said the deadline was extended for the greater convenience of taxpayers ahead of the upcoming national elections.
He further said since online return submission has been made mandatory from this year, taxpayers are to require additional time to prepare their tax files. At present, taxpayers can submit their returns online without uploading any documents.
Upon paying income tax through any banking channel or mobile financial services, taxpayers receive an automated e-return acknowledgement instantly.
On Sunday last, NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan hinted that the income tax return submission deadline might be extended, as many registered taxpayers are yet to file their returns digitally.
Speaking at a programme at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity, he said: "Once we see that a significant percentage of registered taxpayers have filed their returns, we will understand that most of the work has been completed. We expect around 1.5 million more taxpayers to submit their returns online."
He mentioned that the government may consider extending the deadline after reviewing the situation and holding discussions with the finance adviser.
According to the NBR chairman, around 4.2 million taxpayers had registered for online return submission, while more than 2.6 million have already filed their returns.
"This means around 1.5 to 1.6 million returns are still pending. Receiving all of them within the next week may be difficult, especially as new registrations continue every day. On average, more than 15,000 taxpayers register daily for e-return submission," he said.
Towards the end of November, the NBR extended the deadline for individual taxpayers to submit income tax returns by one month, allowing returns for the 2025-26 tax year to be filed until 31 December, instead of the original deadline of 30 November.
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