FBR has registered over 2m new taxpayers, NA told

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday told the National Assembly the Federal Board of Revenue registered 2,403,831 new taxpayers during the fiscal year 2024-2025 filing 2,452,090 new returns with tax collection of Rs1.73 billion.

The FBR is also working with NADRA and provincial governments for data integration which will be used for broadening of the tax base. In a written reply to a question of Aliya Kamran, the Finance Ministry told the National Assembly that so far more than 448,683 tax returns have been enforced from newly registered taxpayers during the current year through combined efforts of BTB wing and DTOs.

About temporary disconnection of cell phone, the finance ministry stated that cell phone data of 458,342 unregistered/ non-filing persons was shared with telecompanies for blocking of SIMs, so far 276,564 SIMs have been restored after registration and filing of income tax returns. Answering a query from Khawaja Izhar, the parliamentary secretary noted that 458,342 individuals entered the tax net recently, and 276,000 people filed tax returns this year alone. “From 2022 to 2025, the number of taxpayers has risen by 8 million, with 3.1 million new taxpayers added just this year,” he said. Sheikh Saad reiterated the government’s commitment to expanding the tax base as a means of strengthening the economy and improving public services. To a question of Tahira Aurangzeb, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training admitted that 298 acres of land of Quaid-e-Azam University has been occupied. The total land allotted to the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), was 1709 Acres, 4 Kanal and 12 Marla. However, as per land demarcation, there is a short fall of 152 acres.