The Federal Board of Revenue has finally rolled out PTA tax installments for individuals importing mobile phones, more than two months after the government first announced the facility. Under the new mechanism, buyers can now split their sales tax payments instead of paying the full amount upfront. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority will manage the process through its Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System, known as DIRBS. The move follows repeated demands from mobile phone importers and retailers for more flexible payment options.

A new provision in the Ninth Schedule of the Sales Tax Act, 1990 introduced this facility. FBR Circular No. 1 of 2026, issued on September 11, explains the mechanics behind the change. Individuals can therefore split their tax liability across several payments instead of clearing the full amount at once. However, every instalment must reach FBR before the end of the financial year in which the buyer imported the phone.

The Finance Act, 2026 introduced these amendments and added flexibility to how officials collect mobile phone taxes. Buyers must still clear their full tax liability within the prescribed financial year, so the relief changes only the payment timing rather than the total amount owed. Meanwhile, the PTA must now build a mechanism to actually process these instalment payments.

Pakistan launched DIRBS in December 2018 to identify unregistered phones and block devices that failed to meet tax and registration requirements. The government also withdrew the duty-free allowance for phones that travelers brought in from July 2019 onward. Since then, buyers have generally paid duties and taxes upfront before registering their devices for use on local networks. Additionally, this policy placed the entire tax burden directly on individuals bringing phones into the country. Finally, the PTA tax installments option gives buyers some breathing room instead of forcing them to pay everything at once.