No Vodafone accord till tax law allows settlement mechanism

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Sunil Jain :New Delhi, Feb 06 2013, 02:00 IST

Vodafone officials have met revenue secretary Sumit Bose several times over the past few weeks to settle the R11,200-crore tax dispute on the company’s $11-billion purchase of Hutchison’s shares in 2007, but no settlement can be reached until the government changes the law to allow for this, sources close to the negotiations told FE. The Budget is expected to make announcements in this context, paving the way for settling several other similar tax disputes, especially in the case of transfer pricing allegations.

Interestingly, the number of tax disputes has shot up dramatically. According to finance ministry data, there was an 85% increase in transfer pricing allegations in 2011-12. While a total of R1,220 crore was the amount of such demands in 2005-06 (for cases pertaining to 2002-03), this rose to R24,111 crore in 2010-11 (for cases pertaining to 2007-08) and then to R44,532 crore in 2011-12 (for cases pertaining to 2008-09). In 2011-12, every other transaction of MNC subsidiaries led to a tax claim, up from one in four just 5 years ago.

Since Vodafone is not an existing assessee that has under-reported taxes, it cannot ask for a settlement under existing processes. But there is no other official mechanism now that allows the taxman and Vodafone to reach a settlement on the amount of tax that needs to be paid, or onwhether interest and penalties are to be waived and, if so, by how much. According to Ajay Bahl, founding partner of top corporate law firm AZB & Partners, “The

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