Sabre Corp is suing British Airways, claiming the carrier refused to reimburse a tax payment.
Sabre is claiming $450,000 in damages and is related to the companies’ decades-old commercial agreement.
Sabre filed the lawsuit in the Northern District Court of Texas.
The dispute stems from the United Kingdom’s Digital Services Tax.
Sabre claims that British Airways is on the hook for this, based on the terms of their 1991 business deal.
Sabre alleges BA has refused to reimburse this.
Sabre says it filed the lawsuit ‘grudgingly’ due to their decades-long business relationship.
Sabre says it has paid $453,863 in UK’s Digital Services Tax to the UK Revenue and Customs.
It says the 1991 agreement states that British Airways is required to reimburse all taxes.
The Digital Services Tax was rolled out in the UK five years ago.
It levies 2% on revenues accrued by large tech companies from UK-resident users.
In 2022, the UK’s tax authority specifically cited GDS systems applicable for the tax
Following this, Sabre received the tax bill from revenue and Customs.
When the company invoiced British Airways for reimbursement, the airline allegedly refused, disputing that the DST constituted a “tax” under their agreement.
Sabre says it only filed the suit after several months of fruitless negotiating with the airline.
