Wipro deposits Rs.24 crore in tax case on court order

According to Wipro Senior Vice-President (Taxation), P V Srinivasan, the company had deposited the amount but looked forward to an early solution to the issue of double taxation on goods and services.

The company was of the view that since it was paying 10.3 percent towards service tax on the export of goods and services, levying an additional four percent as value added tax (VAT) by the state commercial department on the same transaction amounted to double taxation.

Since the case was sub-judice, the company official did not want to go into its legal aspects. However, the firm hoped that the matter could be resolved with the Central and State tax authorities soon.

The High Court had on Tuesday declined to hear Wipro’s appeal for a stay on payment of VAT on the re-exported software.

On December 10, 2010, a single judge directed Wipro to deposit 50 per cent of the tax claim and prefer an appeal before the appellate authority, within two weeks. However, as the company failed to comply, the DCT attached the bank accounts and moved the High Court.