More than two months after the government first announced an instalment facility for PTA taxes on mobile phones, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has allowed individuals to pay sales tax on imported devices in instalments rather than as a single upfront payment. The facility will operate through the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS), the same platform used to register and clear imported mobile devices for use on local networks. The facility was introduced through a new provision in the Ninth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, as explained in FBR Circular No. 1 of 2026, issued on September 11, giving the earlier announced policy its formal legal footing more than two months after it was first unveiled.
Under the new provision, individuals will be able to split their sales tax payments on imported mobile phones instead of paying the entire liability at once, offering some relief for consumers importing higher value devices that typically carry substantial tax bills under Pakistan’s existing duty structure. However, all instalments must be paid before the end of the financial year in which the mobile phone is imported, meaning the facility offers a payment timing benefit rather than a reduction in overall tax burden, and importers will still need to clear their full liability within the same fiscal year. The provision was introduced through amendments made under the Finance Act, 2026, allowing flexibility in how the applicable tax is paid while still requiring the full amount to be cleared within the prescribed timeframe.
With FBR’s circular now in place, the responsibility shifts to PTA to introduce an actual mechanism for processing these instalment payments through DIRBS, since the circular establishes the legal basis for instalments but does not itself detail how individuals will access or manage staggered payments through the registration system. This handoff mirrors a familiar pattern in how DIRBS related policy changes have rolled out in the past, where FBR typically establishes the tax framework and PTA then builds the operational and technical mechanism for implementation. Until PTA develops and activates this mechanism, individuals importing phones may not yet be able to take practical advantage of the instalment option despite it now having formal legal backing.
Pakistan introduced DIRBS in December 2018 to identify unregistered mobile phones and block devices that did not meet tax and registration requirements, later withdrawing the duty free facility for phones brought by travelers from abroad starting July 2019. Since then, imported devices have generally required payment of applicable duties and taxes before registration for use on local networks, placing the tax burden directly on individuals bringing phones into the country rather than allowing duty free personal imports as had previously been the case. The introduction of an instalment option marks one of the more consumer friendly adjustments to this framework in recent years, though its practical impact will depend entirely on how quickly PTA moves to build out the payment mechanism now that FBR has cleared the way through its September circular.
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