Following the Supreme Court’s upholding of a Bombay High Court ruling requesting that the income tax authorities reimburse the telecom operator for extra prepayment tax of Rs 1128 crore, Vodafone Idea shares dropped 3% to their day’s low of Rs 9.65 on the BSE on Tuesday, January 21.
Vodafone had requested a return of prepaid taxes, including advance tax and tax deducted at source, plus interest totalling around Rs 1600 crore for the 2016–17 assessment year.
In August 2018, Vodafone India, a division of the UK’s Vodafone Group PLC, merged with Idea Cellular, a division of the Aditya Birla Group.
The department’s appeal against the HC ruling that declared the assessment judgment against the telecom major to be “unsustainable and time-barred” was denied by a bench headed by Justice JB Pardiwala.
While rejecting the income tax department’s appeal, the Supreme Court stated, “There is a gross delay of 295 days in filing the SLP which has not been satisfactorily explained by the petitioners (department).”
While rejecting the income tax department’s appeal, the Supreme Court stated, “There is a gross delay of 295 days in filing the SLP which has not been satisfactorily explained by the petitioners (department).”
Senior advocate Sachit Jolly represented the operator, while Additional Solicitor General S Dwarakanath represented the department. IIFL Captial