Model Collectorate of Customs (MCC), Preventive has issued a recovery notice of around Rs 390 million to the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL), pending for May-June period under the head of sales tax and income tax leviable on the acquirement of leased aircraft; it was learnt on Tuesday.
According to official sources, MCC, Preventive, which is making all efforts to meet its revenue target for second quarter of current fiscal year, is striving to recover all pending dues. For the purpose, the customs department has started issuing notices to the defaulted importers including PIACL.
Sources said that customs department had given a deadline of five days to PIACL for settling its dues and added that airline imports could not only be suspended in case of non-compliance till the deadline but all its bank accounts would also be frozen for recovery.
The airline has acquired 20 aircraft - 13 A-320, 5 ATR-72 and 2 Boeing 777 - since the implementation of its revival plan and paid only customs duty at the time of aircraft's imports. Sources said that accumulated pending dues on account of sales tax and income tax on the imports of aircraft for the last two years had reached around Rs 2.5 billion and out of total, Rs 2.11 billion had been recovered in phases. They further said that notice had now been served to recover rest of the pending sales tax and income tax amounting to Rs 390 million. When contacted, PIA spokesman was unable to give official version on this issue.