FBR says erroneous tax return SMS issued by telecom service providers

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) clarified on Monday that a technical glitch had led to an erroneous tax return SMS sent to taxpayers asking them to file their income tax returns for Tax Year 2025 before the September 30, 2025 deadline, which has already passed.

Each year in September, the FBR approaches the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to send customised text messages reminding taxpayers to file their income tax returns before the statutory deadline.

“In line with this practice, this year FBR requested PTA on 15 September, 2025 to send messages to taxpayers to file their tax returns ahead of the 30 September, 2025 filing deadline. Accordingly, all such messages were sent before the deadline.

“Today, however, FBR has received multiple complaints from taxpayers who have received SMS messages purportedly from various telecom service providers asking them to file their income tax returns for Tax Year 2025 before the 30 September, 2025 deadline, which has already passed.

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“Upon inquiry, it has been confirmed that FBR has not authorised issuance of these messages. It appears that the messages were transmitted inadvertently by the telecom service providers due to a technical glitch on their part,” the FBR said in a statement.

“On further inquiry, PTA has informed that these messages have been transmitted due to a technical glitch on part of telecom service providers.”

The board said it was actively looking into the matter and the PTA had been requested to engage with the relevant telecom operators to ensure timely resolution of the issue.