Islamabad – The campaign against tax evaders has stalled as telecom companies were late in blocking the SIM cards of half a million tax evaders.
FBRThe country's top tax collection body issued orders to block SIM cards, but the massive operation ran into technical difficulties. In this regard, the government is planning to take legal action against the telecom operator or entity that obstructs the process of disabling mobile SIM cards.
The decision was taken during a visit by Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) headquarters, where the FBR briefed him on the plan to disable SIM cards for over half a million non-applicants.
The government has lamented the lack of cooperation from the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) due to pressure from telcos while the FBR is developing a mechanism to unblock SIM cards of such individuals filing their returns.
The government is looking for a legal path to early recovery of 2.7 trillion rupiah in disputed tax revenues, focusing on cases where there is a strong legal basis.
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