The budget promised some relief for people facing hefty PTA taxes on expensive mobile phones. More than two months later, consumers are still waiting for the one thing that matters: a working installment system.

The installment facility was approved through the Finance Bill 2026-27 and became part of the Finance Act effective July 1, 2026. The law allows the tax on imported mobile phones to be paid in installments, but leaves the actual procedure to be prescribed separately.

That procedure is still missing.

[relatedpost id=”1037897″]Govt Reduces PTA Tax on Mid-Range Mobile Phones[/relatedpost]

Announced, But Not Available

The measure was formally confirmed on June 23, creating expectations that buyers of expensive smartphones would no longer have to arrange the full PTA tax amount upfront.

That matters for flagship phones, where the tax bill can easily reach hundreds of thousands of rupees.

But within days, confusion emerged.

On June 24, reports claimed that monthly PTA tax installments had already been launched. A ProPakistani fact-check found otherwise, with no operational installment facility available for consumers at the time.

The problem has persisted.

Even Fake Notifications Created Confusion

On July 3, PTA rejected a fake notification claiming that users could pay mobile phone taxes in installments through its Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS).

PTA said it had not issued the notification and clarified that tax assessment, levy and collection are handled by the Federal Board of Revenue, while PTA is responsible for device registration and compliance through DIRBS.

The episode highlighted just how unclear the supposedly approved facility remains.

The Missing Details

The policy was meant to solve a straightforward problem: the heavy upfront cost of registering imported smartphones.

Instead of paying the entire tax bill at once, consumers were supposed to get more flexibility and clear the liability within the same financial year in which the phone was imported.

But there is still no clear public mechanism explaining how the facility actually works.

Consumers have yet to receive straightforward answers on the number of installments, eligibility requirements, payment process, application method or how installment payments will be linked to mobile phone registration.

In simple terms, the law exists. The facility consumers need does not.

[relatedpost id=”1042089″]PTA Rejects Rumors of Phone Tax Installments on DIRBS[/relatedpost]

So, When Does It Actually Start?

The new financial year began on July 1, and August is now drawing to a close.

Yet someone wanting to import an expensive phone still has to deal with the same upfront tax burden that the installment policy was supposed to ease.

That leaves consumers with a simple question:

When can they actually pay PTA tax in installments?

Until a proper system is launched and publicly explained, the much-awaited installment facility remains a provision on paper rather than a service consumers can use.

The delay is also pushing some buyers toward alternatives, including non-PTA devices and imported variants offering features such as eSIM support, rather than paying a large tax bill upfront.

For a policy introduced specifically to make expensive phones more accessible, that is hardly the outcome consumers were promised.