ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed telecom companies and Long Distance Calling (LDIs) operators to pay withholding tax on the royalty.
Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC also dismissed LDIs claim that royalty (payments made by telecom companies to LDIs) was their profit, hence the FBR could not charge withholding tax on the payments.
The judge termed LDIs self-claimed profit as royalty and dismissed linked.net plea seeking suspension of withholding tax charged and claimed by the FBR.
Advocate Hafiz Munawar Iqbal, counsel of FBR, argued stating that LDIs and telecom sector companies were depriving of billions of tax by making unlawful excuses. He stated that billions of rupees would be added to national exchequer if their (LDIs) self-claimed profit was declared as royalty.
He also underscored that only Warid Telecom had to pay Rs 200 billion withholding tax per month on the payments it was making to the licencor
