Pakistan
Sims of non-tax payers to be blocked from today
PTA and telecom companies have agreed to block the sims of 5,000 non-filers every day.
Islamabad: The sims of non-tax payers will be blocked in phases from today (Saturday).
Significant progress has been made in the negotiations of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and telecom companies.
PTA and telecom companies have agreed to block the sims of 5,000 non-filers every day.
Yesterday, FBR met PTA and telecom operators for the implementation of Income Tax General Order. The purpose of the meetings was to ensure the blocking of mobile sims of non-filers of tax year 2023.
According to FBR officials, telecom operators have agreed to manually block sims in small batches. A list of 5,000 non-filers has been provided to telecom operators on a daily basis. More batches will be sent to telecom operators on a daily basis.
According to officials, telecom operators have also started sending messages warning non-filers against sim blocking, as blocking sims of non-filers will increase tax collection.
It is pertinent to note that yesterday the government gave green signal to FBR to implement plan-B against non-filers.