18,371 retailers register under FBR’s Tajir Dost Scheme

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Sunday announced a notable surge in the number of traders have been registered under the Tajir Dost Scheme, ARY News reported.

As per FBR’s report, a total of 18,381 traders have registered as filers since April 1.

Among these, 14,472 filers were created through the Tajir Dost app, and an additional 3,899 traders became filers through other means, according to an FBR report.

As per FBR’s city-specific data, a total of 5,303 businessmen registered as filers in Karachi, while Lahore saw 5,112 traders becoming filers between April 1 and May 25.

Islamabad recorded 1,567 new filers, and Rawalpindi had 2,138 traders registering as filers, while, Peshawar added 1,534 businessmen to the list of filers, and Quetta saw 980 traders registering as filers during the same period.

Earlier this week, the FBR blocked over 3,600 SIMs of non-filers across Pakistan so far.

According to sources, FBR is providing data of 50,000 non-filers to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) daily, sources added.

Sources said that the bureau has planned to block SIMs of non-filers gradually as telecom companies have been shared lists of non-filers, and PTA has also received a list of 566,671 individuals.

Non-filers’ SIMs will be blocked in small groups, and the blocking is being done under Income Tax General Rules 114B, sources said.

Moreover, the joint working group has expressed concern over the blocking of mobile SIMs of non-filers, sources revealed.

The development comes a day after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and telecom operators had agreed to block the mobile SIM cards of non-filers, with 5,000 SIMs to be blocked daily.