GST authorities drop Rs 5.9 cr tax demand against Zomato

Bengaluru: Online food aggregator and grocery delivery platform Zomato on Tuesday said that goods and services tax (GST) authorities dropped a demand of Rs 5.9 crore. The company had said that it did not see any merit in this order, dated April 19, 2024. 

“We would like to inform that we have received a favourable order from the Commissioner (Appeals), Gurugram, Haryana dropping the earlier demand order for the period July 2017 to March 2021,” Zomato said in an exchange filing.

The tax order along with penalty totalling Rs 11.82 crore was determined on the basis of export services provided by the company to its foreign subsidiaries. However, the grounds for this dismissal were not disclosed. 

Remarkably, this is just one of the several GST demands raised against the company in different states across the country, pertaining to different timeframes.

The highest among them was a demand for Rs 803 crore from Maharashtra, which included interest and penalties for alleged non-payment of tax between October 29, 2019 and March 31, 2022, which also the company is appealing. 

In all these tax demands, Zomato has denied any wrongdoing, stating that it has a strong case to defend the orders.