ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will start blocking SIMs of non-filers today.
The PTA and telecom companies have agreed to block the SIMs of 5000 non-filers every day
The development came as the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) held negotiations with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and telecom companies.
Yesterday, the FBR officials had a meeting with PTA and telecom operators for implementation of Income Tax General Order. The purpose of the meetings was to ensure 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 to block their SIMs.
Lists of more batches will be provided to telecom operators on a daily basis. According to officials, telecom operators have also started sending messages to non-filers warning them against SIM blockage
They said blocking SIMs of non-filers will increase tax collection. It should be noted that yesterday the government had given green signal to FBR to implement plan B against non-filers.
Earlier, a deadlock persisted between the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and PTA and telecome companies on blocking SIMs (subscribers identification modules) of tax non-filers.
According to sources, the mobile phone companies had refused to block more than 500,000 SIMs in one go for fear of massive losses. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in a letter to the FBR conveyed concern and opposed the drastic measure.
The FBR chairman and other top officials have been deliberating with the mobile companies’ heads to sort out the issue. Sources say the FBR has failed to convince the telecom companies to block SIMs of tax defaulters and non-filers.
