Islamabad :
The PIA has faced another dilemma. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has frozen the accounts of the national airline .
Sources said that PIA has not paid federal excise duty on tickets for the last two years, the national airline had to pay Rs 4.50 billion of federal excise for two years. According to FBR sources I have frozen 50 PIA accounts from which Rs 465 million has been recovered so far. The sources further said that PIA accounts will remain frozen till Rs 4 billion tax recovery.
A PIA spokesperson termed the FBR’s decision as an attempt to tarnish the image of PIA and said that the amount of the said tax was from 2016 to 2020, adding that the federal cabinet would complete the PIA reform process. There is a decision to freeze the amount from 2016 to 2020.
According to the spokesperson, the decision to freeze the FBR account, contrary to the decision of the federal cabinet, is an attempt to tarnish the image of the PIA. According to the spokesperson, all the arrears of 2021 are already being paid in January 2022. It is incomprehensible to take such a step despite being owned by the national body of PIA and the government of Pakistan.
