Tax Filers’ SIMs Will Now Be Automatically Restored By Telcos

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a detailed procedure for blocking and unblocking mobile phone Sims of non-filers including timelines for telecom operators and tax officials. The procedure has been notified by the FBR in line with the directions of the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO). Under the procedure, the FBR will automatically communicate the list of taxpayers who have filed their income tax returns to the telecom companies for unblocking their mobile phone SIMs. In this regard, the FBR has issued a standard operating procedure for the issuance and implementation of the Income Tax General Order under section 114B of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. According to the FBR’s SOP on reactivation of service, the concerned Service Provider will then reactivate the service within 1 to 2 business days. In case, a taxpayer has filed his Income Tax Return for the concerned tax year, and his mobile phone service remains suspended within the next 3 business days; or has any other objection regarding the suspension of his service, etc; he should convey his grievance to the concerned Commissioner, who shall analyze the case in detail and report to Board for resolution of the matter, if the grievance is genuine or contact the office of the issuing authority of the concerned ITGO. Following standard operating Procedure is to be observed for the issuance and implementation of Income Tax General Order under Section 114B of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001: Identification and Verification of Non-ATL persons: A list of Non-filers for a certain tax year under various benchmarks will be extracted from the database of FBR through PRAL and the same will be communicated to the field formations for further scrutiny. Verification Regarding Issuance of Notice u/s 114 and Non-Filer status from the Field Formations: Upon communication to the field formations, verification will be sought regarding the eligibility of cases to be included in the Income Tax General Order. Chief Commissioners will be requested to verify if all the legal and codal formalities have been fulfilled in all regards. Issuance of Certificate by concerned Chief Commissioners Regarding Non-Filer Status: A certificate will be issued by all Chief Commissioners along with the list of cases to be included in the Income Tax General Order, verifying and validating the eligibility of all the included cases. Issuance of Income Tax General Order by Federal Board of Revenue: An Income Tax General Order will be issued by the Board entailing one or all the consequences stipulated in Section 114B(2) with clear direction to the relevant service providers for immediate implementation of the issued order. Communication of ITGO to the concerned Service Providers: The Income Tax General Order (ITGO) will be formally communicated to the concerned service providers including telecommunication operators and utility companies. The service providers shall be directed to implement the ITGO with immediate effect, and a compliance report shall be sought from them within a specified timeframe. Procedure to be adopted in case of non-compliance: In case of non-compliance, a legal course of action will be taken against the service provider as per the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 including but not limited to prosecution under Section 196 and imposition of penalty under section 182 of the Income Tax Ordinance,2001. Monitoring of Enforcement Outcome: The enforcement of the ITGO will be monitored by a dedicated team within the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). This team will track compliance, gather data on the effectiveness of the order, and report on the outcomes. Regular updates will be provided to the higher authorities, FBR added.