Assessment Time Limit Calculator

Section 122(2): an assessment order cannot be amended after 5 years from the end of the financial year (30 June) in which it was issued or treated as issued. The clock runs from the order, not from the tax year the income belongs to. A complete return is treated as an assessment order issued on the day it was furnished (s.120(1)), so for most taxpayers the original assessment order date is the filing date; once FBR notifies the date under section 120(2A), where adjustments are made under (2A) the order date is the date they are complied with. A revised return is treated as an amended assessment order issued on the day it was furnished (s.122(3)). A return filed on 30 September 2021 was an order in the financial year ending 30 June 2022, so the limit is 30 June 2027.

A revision or amendment can reopen the window

Section 122(4): once an assessment has been amended (including by a revised return), it may be further amended, as many times as necessary, within the later of 5 years from the end of the financial year of the original order and 1 year from the end of the financial year of the amended order. Read literally, a revised return filed late in the window reopens it. In the example, the revised return filed on 10 August 2026 moves the limit to 30 June 2028.

The show-cause notice has its own clock

Section 122(9): no assessment may be amended without a hearing, and the order must be made within 1 year of the show-cause notice (Finance Act 2025; it was 180 days), or within a further period of no more than 90 days the Commissioner allows for reasons recorded in writing. The proviso applies to notices issued on or after 1 July 2021. Time during which the proceedings are adjourned because of a stay order, Alternative Dispute Resolution or agreed assessment proceedings under section 122D is left out of the count, and so are adjournments taken by the taxpayer up to 60 days (the page reads the 60-day cap as reaching only the taxpayer's adjournments). For a notice issued before the Finance Act 2025, whether the 1-year period or the earlier 180 days applies is not stated; the page shows both.

Best judgment assessments

Section 121: a best judgment assessment follows a failure to answer a notice to file a return (s.114(3), (4)) or a notice under section 117(3), to furnish a wealth statement, or to produce records for audit (s.121(1)); in the last case it can displace an assessment treated as made on a filed return. It can be issued only within 6 years after the end of the tax year (s.121(3); 5 before the Finance Act 2022). A notice to file can normally reach only the last five completed tax years (s.114(5)); for a person who has not filed for any of the last five, it can reach the last ten, and a best judgment assessment on such a notice must be issued within 2 years from the end of the tax year in which the notice was issued (proviso to s.121(3)). There is no time limit on the notice where the Commissioner records that the person has foreign income or foreign assets (second proviso to s.114(5)).

Where this stops

An assessment may be amended only on the basis of audit or definite information showing that income escaped assessment, was under-assessed or assessed at too low a rate, received excessive relief or refund, or was misclassified (s.122(5)), or where the Commissioner considers the order erroneous and prejudicial to revenue (s.122(5A)), within the same time limits (s.122(5B)). Being out of time can be raised in reply to the notice and in appeal against the order. The page works the dates out from the dates you enter: one year is taken to the same calendar date (29 February to 28 February), and extension and excluded days are added after it. It does not decide whether a stay or an adjournment counts, whether an assessment was complete, matters under the repealed 1979 Ordinance (s.122(4A)), a special or transitional tax year (s.74), or the separate limits for orders giving effect to appellate orders (s.124) and revisions (s.122A(5)). Days left are counted from your device's date.