Crackdown on unregistered businesses proposed

The federal government has unveiled an aggressive enforcement blueprint in the Finance Bill 2025-26, signalling a clampdown on tax evasion and environmental negligence, while setting its sights on the digital economy and fossil fuel usage.

Among the most sweeping proposals is a multi-pronged action plan against unregistered businesses, which includes: Freezing bank accounts of non-compliant entities, banning property transfers, Sealing premises, and seizing goods sold without barcodes.

These measures, if enacted, will significantly tighten compliance across the commercial sector, with the goal of expanding the formal tax net and discouraging grey-market operations.

In a major push to regulate the booming cross-border digital economy, the government has also proposed a 5% tax on digital income earned by foreign traders. This measure aims to create a level playing field for domestic businesses operating in the same space.

Meanwhile, provincial officers may soon get new powers to intercept and stop the smuggling of duty-free tobacco, a move designed to plug leakages in the tobacco tax regime.