Argentina team visit to Kerala: RBC faces ₹56cr GST demand, nearly double tax evaded
The GST department intends to levy a £56 million tax demand, including penalty and interest, on Reporter Broadcasting Company for its involvement in the Argentina football team's visit, despite claims of no tax liability.
The GST department intends to levy a £56 million tax demand, including penalty and interest, on Reporter Broadcasting Company for its involvement in the Argentina football team's visit, despite claims of no tax liability.
The GST department intends to levy a £56 million tax demand, including penalty and interest, on Reporter Broadcasting Company for its involvement in the Argentina football team's visit, despite claims of no tax liability.
Thiruvananthapuram: The GST department is set to slap a tax demand of nearly ₹56 crore on Reporter Broadcasting Company (RBC) over financial transactions linked to its efforts to bring the Argentina football team to Kerala and organise a match. The demand includes tax, interest and penalty.
The move comes even as former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac and members of the personal staff of former finance minister K N Balagopal, among others, have gone public asserting that the company has no tax liability.
The GST department detected tax evasion of ₹25.78 crore, but adding 18% interest and a penalty equivalent to the tax evaded has pushed the total liability to nearly twice that amount. The GST SIT detected tax evasion involving ₹22.69 crore of the ₹126.04 crore transferred by the sponsor through the Argentina Football Association’s collection agent, besides ₹34.15 lakh on ₹1.90 crore paid as legal fees and ₹2.75 crore linked to the renovation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi and club membership fees.
The GST department's final assessment puts the total amount payable by Reporter Broadcasting Company, including tax, interest and penalty, at ₹56,32,79,332. The GST department will issue a show-cause notice accordingly.
The authorities also propose to recover ₹2.75 crore claimed by the sponsor as input tax credit towards the club membership fee and renovation of the Nehru Stadium. The department will take further action after examining the invoices.
The department has decided to impose a 100% penalty on the grounds that information was deliberately concealed to evade tax.