KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has recovered Rs 870 million from the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) against the outstanding dues under the head of taxes/duties of Rs 1.70 billion. Earlier, the national flag carrier had assured the payment of at least Rs 300 million by September 30, 2015; however the authorities failed to keep their assurance.
It is recalled here that on September 30, 2015, the authorities of the FBR and PIA held a detailed negotiation at the PIA headquarters. The FBR was represented by Chief Commissioner Mohammad Irshad while the PIA was represented by Chief Financial Officer Nayyar.
“The PIA authorities have assured that they would ensure payment of Rs 300 million pending taxes/duties by September 30 evening while the remaining amount would be paid off by October 5, 2015. However, the management after the deadline started using delaying tactics while the said amount was deducted from frozen accounts of the PIA”, sources told Customs Today.
The four bank accounts operated by PIA at Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and were frozen for recovery of Rs1.2 billion of income tax and Rs 1 billion of federal excise duty, sources added.
The FBR on May 30 served two notices of FED and Income Tax to PIA for the recovery of principal amount of around Rs1.4 billion. The latest recovery included the fine and penalties as well.
In the FED notice, the FBR directed the PIA to pay the outstanding FED amount of Rs876.81 million in respect of international passengers immediately and proof of payment should be provided to concerned tax office by June 03, 2015.
The notice further said that the PIA was in default of Rs443.69 million for the tax period December 2014 and Rs433.11 million for tax period January 2015 as per its own calculation provided to concerned tax office.
The amounts were due on April 15, 2015 and May 15, 2015 respectively, but the same had not been paid.
In the income tax notice, the notice for personal attendance issued to chief financial officer and assistant manage corporate tax of PIA. The notice was served after non-compliance by the PIA to three previous notices.
FBR sources said that due to official engagement the CFO had not appeared and PIA management provided evidence for income tax matters, which resulted in present recovery demand.
