Shaheen Airlines pays Rs910 million in outstanding tax

KARACHI: Shaheen Air International Limited paid Rs910 million in outstanding tax amount after the authorities sealed the airline’s head quarters for a brief period on Thursday, officials said.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) locked the head office of the privately-held airline for an hour to recover the outstanding taxes.

“The FBR sealed the head office of Shaheen Airlines after giving ample time to (it to) make payments,” deputy commissioner Kashif Khan of FBR said. The airline’s spokesman Zohaib Hassan and tax officials confirmed that the office was unlocked late on.

Tax officials said the airline failed to make tax payment for April and May.

Airlines operating in Pakistan are bound to collect Rs5,000 in federal excise duty (FED) on an air ticket bought by international passengers and Rs2,500 from domestic passengers.

They are required to deposit the taxes into the national kitty within a stipulated timeframe.

The airline failed to deposit Rs497 million for April and another amount of Rs480 million for May, the FBR’s officials said.

The private air carrier was given the payment deadline till 2:00PM of June 21, but no one from the airline appeared at the FBR office with proof of payment, they added.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan estimated that 30,327 domestic passengers and 84,290 international passengers travelled through Shaheen Airlines in

April. Subsequently, the airliner was estimated to collect Rs497.26 million as FED for the month.

The FBR on Wednesday sought outstanding FED tax payment of Rs497 million from the airline for April and “failing which legal action under Federal Excise Act, 2005 shall be initiated without any further information including but not limited to sealing of your business premises”.

“…it transpired that you (the airline) have failed to deposit the duty due in national exchequer, illegally depriving the state from the revenue and have illegitimately used the public money,” the FBR said in a statement.

Officials said a month ago the flight operations of the airline was suspended on tax default of Rs521 million.

Hassan, however, said the airline is a compliant taxpayer.

“We pay millions of rupees every month in terms of taxes and clearing the outstanding amount on priority basis,” he said. “We would able to make all the outstanding in due course of time.”

The FBR’s action was part of an ongoing tax recovery drive to make maximum revenue generation before June 30 to reach a gigantic revenue collection target of Rs3.935 trillion for FY2018.