Karachi, July 13, 2025 – In a bold and unprecedented move, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has launched a sweeping digital manhunt, targeting IP addresses used in filing sales tax returns linked to fraudulent and flying invoices. This aggressive crackdown aims to unmask the faceless perpetrators behind massive tax fraud operations that have bled billions from the national treasury.
According to high-level sources within the local tax office, the FBR has been armed with extraordinary new powers under the Finance Act, 2025, enabling it to dig deeper than ever before into the murky world of digital deception. A new subsection added to Section 38B of the Sales Tax Act, 1990, empowers FBR Commissioners to demand subscriber data from internet service providers, telecom operators, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
This groundbreaking clause reads: “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law… the Commissioner may, by notice in writing, require any Internet Service Providers, Telecommunication Companies and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to furnish subscriber’s information pertaining to the Internet Protocols in connection with any inquiry or investigation in cases of tax fraud.”
The move comes amid rising public anger over longstanding practices of tax fraud involving fake and flying invoices. In previous years, bogus companies routinely registered for sales tax and filed returns loaded with fraudulent entries just to claim illegitimate input tax credits or refunds. When authorities probed these entities, many were found to be non-existent at the registered addresses—a loophole that allowed fraudsters to operate with near impunity.
Until now, the FBR had been under fire for failing to go beyond surface-level investigations. Critics repeatedly questioned why the agency wasn’t using digital forensic methods to trace IP addresses and identify the actual individuals behind the screens. Now, that long-ignored demand is being met with action.
The timing of this crackdown is as explosive as its scale. With the business community already enraged by what they see as the FBR’s overreach, tensions are peaking ahead of the July 19 nationwide strike. But with billions lost to tax fraud, the FBR appears determined to prove that no digital trail is beyond its reach—and no fraud will go unpunished.