14 companies against whom retroactive tax Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said the demands were raised, the government has been approached to settle the matters.
In August the government enacted a law to do away with all retrospective taxation imposed on indirect transfers of Indian property. The rules under the law seek to roll back tax demands made using the 2012 retrospective law to tax indirect transfers of Indian property and to refund the amount paid in these cases without any interest.
Speaking to PTI, Mr Bajaj said that of the 17 companies against whom retrospective tax demands were made, barring three or four entities, all had given an undertaking to the government to resolve the cases.
“Except 14, 1 who still have time to file, the rest have filed … stupa, earlyguard has arrived [for settlement],” he said.
About VodafoneMr Bajaj said the UK-telecom company has until the end of the month to file for settlement. “For some the change (in tax laws) was done through the IT Act, for some the change was done through the Finance Act.” He said the company, for which the changes were made through the Finance Act, has till the end of the month to file for settlement.
on 1 October, The rules were notified by the Ministry of Finance which stipulates that companies shall withdraw any pending litigation or proceedings before any forum against the levy of retrospective tax and shall also give an assurance that they will not make any further claims in future.
In addition, the companies and any other interested party were required to furnish an indemnity bond not seeking damages from the Government of India or its affiliates.
Later on 13 October, the ministry notified a new set of rules to facilitate the settlement of retrospective tax disputes with British telecom giant Vodafone Plc.
The ‘Exemption of Recognition (Section 119 of the Finance Act, 2012) Rules, 2021’, lays down the form and conditions for a declaration to be filed by a company to settle its case.
Vodafone had 45 days to approach the government for a settlement.
The case relating to Vodafone is different as it sought taxes from the company by validating the IT department’s October 2010 order, which sought ₹11,218 crore in taxes from a British firm on the acquisition of Hutch-Essar through a deal in the Cayman Islands in 2007. was demanded. ,
The Supreme Court had rejected the demand for tax in January 2012, but sought to revalidate it through section 119 of the Finance Act, 2012. A fine of Rs 7,900 crore was also sought from Vodafone.
When asked how soon the disputes would be resolved, Mr. Bajaj said, “Cairn is working on it… Now the ball is in their court. As soon as they withdraw the cases, we will give them the checks. In those cases, Where there is no money to be returned, the settlement will be swift.” The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021, enacted in August, does away with the tax rule that gave the tax department 50 years ago the power to go and capitalize wherever the ownership changed overseas but the business assets were in India. Benefit levied.
The 2012 law was used to levy a total tax of ₹1.10 lakh crore on 17 entities, including Vodafone, but substantial punitive action was taken only in Cairn’s case.
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