ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that the Pakistan Television Limited (PTV) will not pay over Rs1 billion in taxes to the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) as the latter claimed the dues pertaining to the period between 2009 and 2013 by the public television network owing to its contract with electricity distribution companies.
Under the contract, the companies would collect TV fees through their bills and forward that payment to the PTV after deducting their own service fee.
The FBR argued that unless the PTV had deducted the withholding tax from the service fee, it was not entitled to claim it as an expense under its tax returns.
The PTV, however, had challenged this contention earlier but had lost its appeals before the Islamabad High Court.
Subsequently, the PTV had hired the services of lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan to plead its case.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar, noted that as the power companies had paid their income tax on the service fee retained by them, forcing the PTV to pay tax on that amount would be illegal and also result in double taxation.
