Kingfisher still owes govt Rs 60 cr

Cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines still owes Rs 60 core as service tax arrears to the government, after it paid Rs 20 crore in outstanding dues for December.

“The airlines has already paid Rs 20 crore arrears for December and said it will clear the arrears by March 31,” Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) Chairman S K Goel said.

Last month, CBEC had frozen 10 accounts of Kingfisher for allegedly defaulting on payment of service tax it collected from passengers. The accounts were de-frozen within a week after it made part-payment of the dues.

Kingfisher, which pays Rs 8-10 crore on average every month as service tax had also given a written undertaking to pay the remaining dues toward service tax by March 31 this year. Kingfisher also owes the government about Rs 130 crore of income tax deducted from employee salaries that it has committed to pay by the end of March.

The service tax dues in case of national carrier Air India amounts to Rs 300 crore for the same period, Goel said. He said Air India would be able to pay its arrears only after it gets the additional tranche of  equity infusion from the government.