Iran's tax administration says cashless payment devices cannot hide income from the authorities

Seyed Mohammadreza Ahmadi, head of the inspection, tax evasion and money laundering centre at Iran's National Tax Administration, rejected claims that so called cashless payment devices allow businesses to conceal income, in a statement reported on Sunday 2 August 2026 (11 Mordad 1405).

He said advertisers' assertions that the tax administration cannot access identity, location, financial or transaction level data from these devices are false. The devices connect directly to the Shetab and Shaparak networks, he said, and every transaction carries a tracking code, the source and destination card numbers and the national identification number of the account holder, in the same way as card to card transfers.

Ahmadi said the tax administration focuses on bank accounts and their financial behaviour rather than on the payment instrument, and that under Iran's direct taxation law, tax applies to income and not to the channel through which money moves. He added that the behaviour of all bank accounts, commercial and non commercial, is monitored continuously, and that an account showing unusual activity is flagged as suspected of commercial use. Concealing income, he said, brings heavy non forgivable penalties and in some cases criminal tax evasion sanctions.