The Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) requested the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to update the SIMs blocking list every week so that names of compliant taxpayers are not included in the list. In a letter to member IT, the Tax Bar Association said that the Income Tax General Order (ITGO) had on April 29, 2024 directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and mobile operators to deactivate the SIMs of more than 0.5 million people, who were responsible for filing income tax returns for the tax year 2023. But were not appearing in the Active Taxpayer List (ATL). However, it has been observed that even after filing the tax returns of last year 2023, the names of these persons are still on the ITGO list, and the risk of their SIMs being blocked remains. Therefore, it is requested that the list of active taxpayers be updated every week. The ITGO should also be updated every week to exclude the names of persons who have filed income tax returns correctly for the year 2023.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan