If you want to file your income tax return online in Pakistan, you have four realistic options: do it yourself on FBR's IRIS portal, or use one of the three private platforms, BeFiler, PakFiler or TrueFiler. This guide compares all four on price, speed, ease of use and what you actually get, so you can pick the right one for your situation.
The short answer
FBR IRIS is free but you do everything yourself, with no guidance and no error checking. BeFiler is the oldest private option but also the most expensive, starting from Rs 3,900, and public reviews repeatedly mention slow responses after payment. PakFiler is a mid-range assisted service starting from Rs 1,999 with CA review as a paid add-on. TrueFiler starts from Rs 1,750, lets you draft and calculate your entire return for free before paying anything, and files through a guided 13-step wizard with automatic wealth reconciliation. For most individuals, that combination of lowest entry price and free draft makes it the strongest option.
How to file income tax return online in Pakistan: the four routes
Every return in Pakistan is ultimately lodged on FBR's IRIS portal. The difference between these options is who does the work before that step, how much guidance you get, and what it costs.
1. FBR IRIS (do it yourself)
IRIS (iris.fbr.gov.pk) is FBR's official portal. Registration and filing carry no government fee. You enter your income, deductions, assets and expenses across FBR's statutory forms yourself, prepare the Section 116 wealth statement yourself, and submit.
The catch is well known to anyone who has tried it. The forms assume you already understand tax law. There is no guidance on which section your income falls under, no warning when your wealth statement does not reconcile, and a small entry error can sit in your return unnoticed until FBR sends a notice. For a salaried person with one income source and patience, it is doable. For anyone with freelance income, property, or multiple sources, it usually takes days of trial and error, and most people end up asking a consultant anyway.
Best for: people with very simple cases who have the time to learn the portal and accept the risk of unnoticed errors.
2. BeFiler
BeFiler (befiler.com) is the oldest private filing platform in Pakistan, run by Arittek Solutions (Pvt) Ltd. Their published pricing is Rs 3,900 for tax filing and Rs 1,500 for NTN registration, with no variation by complexity. Filing typically takes 48 hours to 5 working days. They also offer backfiling for previous tax years.
The concern with BeFiler is not the price alone but the service pattern visible in public reviews. On their Google Play page and Reddit threads, the most repeated complaint is responsiveness after payment: customers describe paying first and then waiting weeks with little communication, being asked for the same documents multiple times, and in some cases missing deadlines. Their in-app calculation is only a short summary that updates after you move to the next step, not a live figure that follows your input. The company itself replied to dozens of old complaints in April 2026 with a template apology citing "organizational level improvements," which confirms the pattern was widespread rather than a few isolated cases. Earlier reviews from 2020 to 2023 are more positive, which suggests quality slipped as volume grew.
Best for: people who specifically want the oldest brand name and are comfortable paying the highest price in the market.
You can read Befiler vs TrueFiler complete article here >
3. PakFiler
PakFiler (pakfiler.com) is an assisted filing service. Their published structure is Online Filing at Rs 1,999 for a single income source and Rs 2,999 for multiple sources without CA Review, which is given as add-on at Rs 1,000. So, with CA review, it will cost you pricing similar to Befiler or more if you have multi-head incomes. Standard turnaround is 1 to 3 working days, and everything is handled online. They also provide a Document Upload option at Rs 5,500 where their team prepares the return from your documents.
PakFiler sits between IRIS and BeFiler on price. The trade-off is the model itself: it is a web form filling service, not a live platform. You fill in their form with your data and hand it over; there are no live calculations shown to you at any point, and no automatic wealth reconciliation. Everything after the form is done manually by their team, and CA review costs extra rather than being built in. There is no draft or calculation step where you can see your own numbers before committing money.
Best for: people who prefer handing their data through a form to a team and waiting, and do not mind paying extra for CA review.
4. TrueFiler
TrueFiler (truefiler.pk) takes a different approach from both. Instead of paying first and waiting, you work through a guided 13-step wizard yourself: income, deductions, assets, expenses, and the system calculates everything live, reconciles your Section 116 wealth statement automatically, and runs a pre-filing audit check that flags inconsistencies before anything is submitted. Drafting and all calculations are completely free. You pay only when you decide to lodge the finalized return, starting from Rs 1,750. A CA or licensed tax practitioner then files it on IRIS, usually the same day or the next.
Two things in that model directly answer the most common complaints about filing services. First, there is no "pay first, then wait in the dark" step, because you see your complete draft, your exact tax calculation and your refund position before spending a rupee. Second, the wealth statement, which is where most IRIS self-filers get stuck and where most notices come from, is reconciled by the system instead of left to you. Also, TrueFiler's system has automated audit checks, so it tells you about errors in your return before submission and provides automated fixing of these errors in one click. You can also take help from Tax Ai during filing for free. These Features make it Pakistan's most advanced income tax filing platform.
Best for: anyone who wants to see and approve their own return before paying, from nil filers to salaried individuals, freelancers and businesses. Other platforms provide only filing, TrueFiler provides you proper understanding of your return.
Side-by-side comparison
| FBR IRIS | BeFiler | PakFiler | TrueFiler | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | Rs 3,900 | Rs 1,999 | Rs 1,750 |
| See your draft before paying | Yes (it is all you) | No | No | Yes, full draft free |
| Live calculation as you enter data | No | Summary only, updates after next step | No, form only | Yes, every keystroke |
| Who performs calculations | You | Befiler system | Pakfiler team, manually | TrueFiler System (with CA/Tax Practitioner Review) |
| Wealth reconciliation help | None | No simple and automated way | None, manual | Automatic |
| Pre-filing error check | None | Not published | CA review is a Rs 1,000 add-on | Built-in audit check |
| Typical turnaround | Days of your own time | 48 hours to 5 working days | 1 to 3 working days | Same day or next day filing |
| NTN registration | Free on IRIS | From Rs 1,500 | From Rs 1000 | From Rs 699 standalone or Rs 499 with return |
Prices are starting prices from each provider's published rates; TrueFiler's full rate list is on its pricing page.
Which one should you choose?
Choose IRIS if your case is genuinely simple, you have several free days, and you are confident navigating FBR's forms alone. Choose BeFiler if brand age matters most to you and the Rs 3,900 starting price is acceptable. Choose PakFiler if you want an assisted, form-handover service at a mid-range price and do not need live calculations or to see a draft first.
Choose TrueFiler if you want the lowest starting price in the market combined with something none of the others offer: your complete return, calculated and reconciled, in front of you before you pay anything. That free draft removes the two biggest risks in online filing, paying before seeing the work, and errors nobody flags.
Start with the free draft on TrueFiler. If the numbers look right, lodge it. If they do not, you have lost nothing but a few minutes, and you still have your calculation to compare against any other option.
Frequently asked questions
Is filing through a private platform the same as filing on IRIS?
Yes. Every platform ultimately lodges your return on FBR's IRIS portal. The platform handles preparation, calculation, reconciliation and review; IRIS is the final submission step, and your filer status and ATL listing work exactly the same.
Can I file for previous tax years?
Yes. FBR allows late filing of previous years' returns, and BeFiler, PakFiler and TrueFiler all handle backfiling. Late filing can attract a Section 182 penalty and a Section 182A surcharge for ATL restoration, so it is worth doing sooner rather than later.
Sources
- PakFiler pricing and service details: https://pakfiler.com/services/personal-tax-filing and https://pakfiler.com/
- BeFiler pricing and company details: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=arittek.com.befiler
- BeFiler customer reviews: https://www.reddit.com/r/PakistaniTech/comments/1kg17mj/is_befiler_reliable/ and the BeFiler Google Play reviews page above
- FBR IRIS portal: https://iris.fbr.gov.pk
- TrueFiler platform and pricing: https://truefiler.pk/ and https://truefiler.pk/pricing
Last updated: November 3, 2026. Prices are as published by each provider and can change; check the provider's own site before deciding.