Vodafone v/s the tax department: round 4
05 Jun 2010
The income tax department yesterday issued issued a Rs 12,000 crore tax demand to Vodafone.
And it's finally here. All 3700 pages of it! Sorry, 3761 pages of it. Now this marks Round 4 in the battle between Vodafone and the Tax Department.
Remember, in 2007 UK-based telecom company Vodafone bought Hutchison Hong Kong's 67% stake in Indian telecom company Hutch Essar for a little over USD 11 billion.
The transaction was executed through a Hutchinson company located in the Cayman Islands
Round 1: began in September 2007, when the Tax Department issued a show cause notice to Vodafone that said Vodafone was liable to pay withholding tax on the purchase amount.
Round 2: Vodafone filed a writ at the Bombay High Court disputing the tax department's jurisdiction in an overseas transaction. But the petition was dismissed and Vodafone then appealed to the Supreme Court marking the third round of hostilities.