BENGALURU: Following a raid on its main branch at MG Road by the commercial tax (enforcement wing) officials, Axis Bank has said it had received a VAT demand notice from the state authorities relating to import of bullion.
“The bank also approached the VAT authority on February 7, 2015, for submission of reconciliation of sales for 2013-14 and is in possession of all the relevant records to substantiate its claim,” a statement issued by the bank said. It said the bank had also replied to the notice served by the officials.
During a routine analysis of e-Sugam, the online process for registering commercial taxes, officials had detected Rs 400 crore unaccounted money for the last three fiscals.
The bank claimed the authorities have sought to recover taxes not due from the bank without taking into account its submissions.
“The bank has adequately cooperated with the authorities and has given all information or documents asked for by the authorities during their visit and does not accept any liability as proposed by the authorities in the course of the investigation,” it said.
The commercial tax department said the bank, after the raids on Tuesday, paid Rs 3 crore VAT and the remaining VAT will be collected after assessment is completed.
The state charges 1 per cent VAT on the value of the bullion, and slaps a penalty of 1.5 per cent per month on delay in payment of VAT. It will also inform the Income Tax department of the raids and subsequent detection of unaccounted money for a further probe, an official said.