Deepinder Goyal, Zomato CEO
Food delivery major Zomato has received a Goods and Services tax (GST) notice worth Rs 23.26 crore for financial year 2018-19 from Karnataka tax authorities, the company said in a regulatory filing on Sunday.
According to the filing, the order demands a GST payment of Rs 11,27,23,564, along with additional interest and penalty charges totalling Rs 23,26,64,271.
“Pursuant to Regulation 30 of the Listing Regulations, this is to inform that the company has received an order for the FY 2018-19 pursuant to the audit of GST returns and accounts by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Karnataka raising demand of GST of Rs 11,27,23,564, along with applicable interest and penalty totalling to Rs 23,26,64,271,” said the company.
The Gurugram-based food delivery major said that it received the order from the authority on March 30, which relates to overutilisation of input tax credit and interest, penalty thereon.
Zomato reported that despite responding to the show cause notice, which included clarifications supported by pertinent documents and legal precedents, the authorities did not fully consider this information when issuing the order.
The company now plans to appeal against the order before the appropriate authority. “We have a strong case on merits and the company will be filing an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority,” it said.
Earlier this month, Zomato got a tax notice from the Deputy Commissioner of State Tax of Gujarat. The penalty was about the audit of the company’s GST returns and accounts for the financial year 2018-19.
This comes at a time when several startups have reportedly received income tax notices in recent weeks with respect to venture capital raised by them.
The notices, served under Section 68 of the Income Tax Act, have clubbed the investments received by these firms with the income earned by them, and tax and penalties have been levied on the combined amount, reports said.
First Published: Mar 31 2024 | 6:55 PM IST
