Zomato Gets Fresh GST Notice Of INR 9.45 Cr, Plans To Appeal

Foodtech major Zomato has received a goods and service tax (GST) demand notice of INR 9.45 Cr from the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit) in Karnataka, the company said in a filing.

The notice, received on Saturday, demands a GST of INR 5,01,95,462 ( INR 5.01 Cr), which will be marked up with an interest charge of INR 3.93 Cr, and a penalty of INR 50.19 Lakh, bringing the total up to INR 9.45 Cr, the filing showed. 

The company has received the tax order for the financial year 2019-20 under the audit of GST returns and accounts.

The demand order has been received in respect of excess availment of input tax credit and interest, penalty thereon, stated the company in the filing.

Zomato responded to the show cause notice with detailed explanations and relevant documents, but the authority was not satisfied, it said.

The company said, “We believe that we have a strong case on merits and the company will be filing an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority.”

It is not unusual for the Gurugram-based company to be served with a tax notice, as it received its previous GST penalty notice of over INR 2.31 Cr from Delhi’s sales tax officer in May, pertaining to fiscal 2018-19.

Prior to that, Zomato got a GST notice of INR 23.26 Cr for financial year 2018-19 (FY19) from Karnataka tax authorities, and a notice of INR 8.57 Cr from Gujarat’s Deputy Commissioner of State Tax, pertaining to fiscal 2018-19.

Meanwhile, the Blinkit parent rolled out restaurant services hub, an initiative to cater to restaurants, as part of its portfolio expansion in June. This new platform will help restaurants plug in various operational requirements like hiring, FSSAI registrations, taxation and trademarking.

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.