- Wednesday, May 08, 2024
The broadcaster, which came under the lens of the tax authorities earlier this year, is yet to file revised returns or provide a written submission to the I-T department, the daily report said.
By: Shubham Ghosh
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has “acknowledged” that it may have paid lower taxes in India as compared to its liability, the Times of India reported citing government sources on Monday (5).
The broadcaster, which came under the lens of the tax authorities with its offices in Delhi and Mumbai ‘surveyed’ for three consecutive days earlier this year, is yet to file revised returns or provide a written submission to the I-T department, the daily report said.
“It is only a statement of intent so far, there is no payment,” the Times of India quoted a source as saying.
The ‘survey’ triggered a massive controversy both in India and the UK as it happened close on the heels of the BBC airing a controversial documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 riots in the western state of Gujarat that took place when Modi was its chief minister. Opposition voices in India accused the Modi government of targeting the freedom of press.
The Indian daily contacted the BBC’s London office but it refused to comment.
The Indian I-T department said without naming the broadcaster that the income and profits disclosed by the organisation’s units were “not commensurate” with the scale of India operations.
The authorities also said that the surveys allegedly indicated that tax had not been paid on certain remittances that have not been disclosed as income in India by the group’s foreign entities.
The broadcaster said that time that it was cooperating with the authorities.
