FBR Freezes Mobilink Bank Account, Restores After Tax Recovery

by Ahmed Rayyan

Federal Board of Revenue’s Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) Islamabad froze Mobilink bank accounts at HSBC recently to recover its outstanding tax amount of Rs 100 million

Sources in the FBR said that LTU Islamabad had attached or sealed the banks accounts of Mobilink to recover a colossal amount of revenues subsequently the cellular operators showed it reluctance to deposit tax to national kitty after several show-cause notices sent by tax authority.

The LTU detected miss-reporting of the withholding tax deducted by Mobilink from their customers on the recharge of prepaid cards and payment of postpaid bills. It sent several show-cause notices to cellular operators, demanding to deposit its outstanding dues within couple of months, however, the cellular operator became stubborn to follow orders of tax authority, responding that it reported  correctly the amount of tax to FBR and paid all amount deducted from customers.

The tax departments informed Mobilink about the massive tax default as a result of under or miss reporting and ordered to pay it for avoiding stern action but the cellular operator was stick to its stance.

LTU Islamabad used its legal rights to have sealed the accounts of Mobilink at HSBC Islamabad branch and recovered Rs 100 million taxes within 24 hours. The tax department has restored the account of Mobilink at HSBC after recovery of outstanding due taxes.

This is the first case of the history cellular sector of the country, which raised eyebrows of many taxpayers of corporate sector as a matter of fact the cellular companies are committed compliant of taxes and laws of the country. These cellular companies have contributed heavily to the national exchequer on the account of different taxes such as FED, WHT, Income and Corporate Taxes.