After going back and forth, telecom companies in Pakistan have finally agreed with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to start blocking SIM cards of non-filers manually in small batches until a fully automated system is in place. The FBR has been engaged in important meetings with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and telecom companies all over Pakistan to make sure that Income Tax General Order No. 1, which was issued under Section 114 B of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, is implemented effectively.
These meetings were held to discuss how to disable mobile phone SIM cards of non-filers for the year 2023. They also discussed how to make the process more efficient and ensure compliance of tax regulations. After talking it over, the telecom companies agreed to start blocking SIM cards manually in small batches until an automated system was ready. They have already started with the first batch of 5,000 non-filers, and the FBR will keep sending more batches to the companies every day.
Besides that, the telecom companies have also started sending messages to non-filers to let them know that their SIM cards will be blocked.
This teamwork shows how serious both FBR and the telecom companies are about following tax rules and making sure everyone does too. It’s also a big step towards making tax collection and following the rules better in the country.
