Income Tax Returns: SIM blockage and Utility cut-off for non-filers

The Federal Board of Revenue has secured more power and with an aim to increase the tax returns of citizens, they are now authorised to disconnect utility and Block SIM cards of non-filers after the notice is issued.

This new initiative came as a result of the staff-meeting between IMF and Pakistan for the $3 billion loan.

From a total of 240 million population, only a handful of 4.3 million filed their tax returns last year. This has come as a serious blow for the government as the DP to Tax ratio is not balanced or desirable yet. Many people look to evade taxes and only a small proportion of 4.3 million filed their taxes in the last fiscal year.

To overcome this, the government has established new tax offices in 145 Districts. Their aim would be to restructure the tax returns and add more filers by the end of June 2024.

The caretaker Prime Minister, Anwar ul Haq had been stressing on revenue generation and the feeble number of tax files from the total population in a recent meeting.

Afterwards, the board has not finally notified the 140 DTOs to start their operations. Each office would have a BPS 17/18 officer. They would use data gathered by third party companies or institutions to look for potential assets, hidden assets, or investments in assets of individuals. Majority of people try to hide behind these curtains to evade paying taxes but the job of these DTOs would be to gather a substantial amount of such individuals and file them for taxes.

They would do so by the new Section 114B of Income Tax Ordinance 2001 by which they can disconnect their utilities and block their SIM if they resist paying taxes.