If you're a Pakistani who isn't filing tax returns, here's what you'll lose

If they want to avoid getting their sim blocked, sitting without electricity and being unable to do banking transactions, Pakistanis need to file their tax returns before September 30 — the deadline set by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

As the deadline nears, the tax collection authority has emailed notices to individuals on their registered emails, warning that a failure to file tax returns in the stipulated time period would result in sims getting blocked.

In the second phase, their electricity supply would be discontinued. In the last phase, their accounts would be frozen and they would face a travel ban.

Last year too, the FBR blocked around 458,000 sims of people who had not filed their tax returns. Following this, around 80,000 people filed their returns within a week.

However, around 190,000 of those sims are still blocked, according to FBR information.

Around 1.92 million tax returns have been submitted so far for fiscal year 2024-25, marking an increase of 250,000 from the same period previous year. Last year, 5.99 million returns were filed.

Taxpayers who are unable to meet the deadline can apply for individual extensions through their respective tax commissioners, but no general extension will be granted, according to the FBR.