Months of litigation over tax debts allegedly owed by Interjet (AIJ, Toluca), said to have accumulated between 2013 and 2017, have reached a climax. Interjet said in a statement on August 12 that a judge had ruled in its favour suspending an order for the airline to pay off the sum, Reuters reported.
The airline added that it was also challenging Mexico's tax administration service (Servicio de Administración Tributaria - SAT) in its assessment of what it owes.
“Interjet is clearing up differences over taxes that it believes are erroneous,” it said.
However, shortly after the statement was issued, SAT and Mexico’s finance ministry released a joint statement that said the tax authority was already implementing steps to collect outstanding debt from an airline, without naming it or the amount, and that the process was being brought before the courts as a lawsuit.
SAT said on August 12 that it planned to seize 10% of Interjet’s cash earnings to compensate for the debts, the newspaper Reforma reported. The government reportedly told the newspaper in July that Interjet owed at least MXN92 million pesos (USD4.68 million) for Mexican airspace rights.
The business newspaper El Financiero reported last month that both Interjet and Aeromar Airlines had outstanding debts for airspace use during April, amounting to MXN57.35 million pesos (USD3 million) and MXN54.7 million pesos (USD2.87 million), respectively.
