Telcos Assure Finance Minister That 5,000 SIMs of Non-Filers Will be Blocked Daily

Telecom companies assured Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday that they would block 5,000 SIMs of non-filers of income tax returns every day. This assurance was given by the high-ups of telecom companies during a meeting with the minister held at the Ministry of Finance. Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and telecom companies had mutually agreed to block 5,000 SIMs of non-filers on a daily basis whose names have been published in Income Tax General Order No. 1 of 2024. As agreed between the FBR and mobile phone operators, telecom operators have started blocking SIMs in line with FBR’s Income Tax General Order (ITGO). FBR also sent messages to 5,000 individuals, intimating to them that their mobile phone SIMs would be blocked if they did not file their returns. On Sunday, the board sent the third batch of 5,000 non-filers to the telecom companies, who agreed to initiate the manual blocking process of the SIMs in small batches until their systems were fully equipped to automate it. Subsequent batches will be sent to telcos on a daily basis. Moreover, telecom operators have also commenced sending messages to non-filers regarding the blocking of SIMs for intimation purposes.