Samsung ordered to pay tax of Rs 44000000000, company blames Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio for…,challenges…

Samsung India Electronics had reported revenues of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore for 2023-24, in which its network business' share was Rs 16,626 crore. 

Samsung Electronics is facing a challenge in India after being ordered by the Indian government to pay $520 million (around Rs 4,400 crore) in taxes. This is about alleged irregularities in the importation of networking equipment, but Samsung claimed that Reliance Jio played a role in the situation.

The Indian government has accused Samsung of misclassifying imported networking equipment to avoid paying taxes. The company faces a $520 million tax bill and is also liable for an additional $81 million in penalties so the total amount goes to $601 million.

Samsung has alleged that Reliance Jio did not inform them about prior warnings from Indian authorities regarding potential tax liabilities. Samsung claimed that Jio’s failure to share this critical information left the company vulnerable to the current tax demand.

Consumer electronic major Samsung India has moved the Customs Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), challenging a penalty amount of more than half a billion dollars imposed on it by government officials, according to industry sources.

The said order has been challenged by Samsung India before the Mumbai bench of the the appellate tribunal CESTAT, the sources told PTI.

The petition, which has been moved through law firm Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan before the appellate tribunal, is yet to be listed for hearing, they said.

It may come up for hearing in due course before a CESTAT bench, they added.

Samsung has supplied those network equipment to Reliance Jio, the leading telecom service provider, part of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.

According to the PTI report, the network division of Samsung India has allegedly misclassified the equipment, attracting a tariff of 10-20 per cent. This was objected to by the customs department earlier also.

(With Inputs from PTI)