Pakistan to block mobile sim cards of over half a million tax defaulters

NEW DELHI: Pakistan authorities decided to freeze sim cards of over half a million people who failed to file tax returns for 2023. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) stated in an Income tax general order (ITGO) that the mobile SIMs of 5,06,671 individuals who failed to file their tax returns for 2023 will be frozen unless they are restored by the FBR or the commissioner inland revenue having authority over the person.
It directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and all telecom providers to promptly implement Income Tax General Order (ITGO) No 01 of 2024, which requires them to ban their SIM cards and produce a compliance report by May 15,Dawn reported.
FBR has discovered 2.4 million potential taxpayers who were previously not on the tax rolls. These persons were eventually served with notices, as per an official source.
The FBR chose about 0.5 million people out of 2.4 million for SIM blocking based on one criterion: they had declared taxable income in one of the previous three years and had not filed their reports for tax year 2023.
The SIM card ban is a new simple action implemented by the FBR to encourage low-income people to file their tax returns and raise the number of return filers, which looks to be a decent idea on paper.
(With inputs from agencies)