The Askari housing schemes across Lahore were built for armed-forces families, and many residents are still serving. Their salary tax is deducted at source by the pay office, which leads many to believe filing a return is optional. It usually isn't — and skipping it costs more than people expect.
Tax deducted at source is not the same as filing
For serving personnel, income tax on pay and taxable allowances is deducted by the paying authority every month. That covers the tax on salary, but it does not:
- put you on FBR's Active Taxpayer List (ATL);
- declare the plot, house, car or savings you own;
- claim credit for other advance taxes you have paid during the year;
- protect you when you later buy or sell property.
A serving officer who has never filed is, in FBR's records, a non-filer — and pays the higher withholding rates on vehicle registration, property transfers and several banking transactions.
What a serving member's return usually contains
| Section of the return | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Salary | Pay and allowances as per the annual pay/tax certificate |
| Tax already paid | Deduction by pay office, plus vehicle, utility, phone and bank advance tax |
| Other income | Rent from a house elsewhere, bank profit, any family business share |
| Wealth statement | Allotted plot or house, cars, bank balances, savings certificates, gold |
The pay certificate is the anchor document. Get the one for the full tax year (July to June), not a monthly slip.
The allotment question
Many officers are allotted a plot or house through an armed-forces welfare scheme, paid partly through deductions over years of service. That allotment is an asset: its cost is the total amount you have paid, and each year's instalments come from your pay. In a wealth statement this is straightforward, but only if it's declared from the start. An allotment that first appears in the year of sale has no history behind it.
Postings and the family left in Lahore
When an officer is posted out of Lahore — or abroad on a UN or attachment assignment — the family often stays in the Askari house. Any income the spouse earns is her own and filed in her own return. If the spouse holds assets bought from the officer's pay, the officer's statement should show the transfer as a gift, or the assets should stay in the officer's own declaration.
Allowances are not all treated the same way. Some are taxable, some are exempt within limits. We work from the pay office's certificate rather than recalculating allowances ourselves, and only query a figure if it looks clearly wrong.
Retirement is coming — plan before it arrives
Commutation, gratuity and pension each have their own tax treatment, and the year of retirement usually involves large lump sums. See our Askari 1 retirement page for what changes then.
Askari Lahore — questions we get asked
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