Kerala Slaps Rs. 54 Crore fine on Flipkart; Jabong and others

Kerala Slaps Rs. 54 Crore fine on Flipkart; Jabong and others

Kerala's commercial taxes department has slapped a fine on the following Ecommerce companies
1-
Flipkart - Fine amount Rs 47.15 crore

2-
Jabong – fine amount Rs 3.89 crore

3-
Vector E-commerce Pvt Ltd (which holds a stake in Myntra) –
Fine amount - Rs 2.23 crore

4-
Robemall Apparels Pvt Ltd (which operates zovi.com)
Fine amount - Rs 36 lakh

The fine, Rs 54 crore overall, has been levied for evasion of sales tax in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

In India Foreign Direct Investment is not allowed in E Commerce companies.

E commerce companies like Flipkart and Amazon operate through a marketplace model
Under the marketplace model, Ecommerce or E Retail companies do not own goods; they only facilitate transactions between sellers and buyers for a commission or fee.

Before this incident Karnataka tax department had banned Amazon India from selling a few products, including electronics, from its warehouses in the state and cancelled the licenses of about 100 vendors selling products through the website.

In December, Maharashtra's revenue department had initiated action againstTele-shopping company Naaptol.com and ordered a freeze on few of the firm's bank accounts to recover VAT on the sale of third-party goods.

Again the problem in India is that our laws are outdated, same with sales tax also.

Indian government needs to make or add new amendments or draft guidelines regarding this which will be transparent otherwise it is possible that using loopholes corrupt politicians and tax officers will create problems for companies and will demand illegal gifts, benefits simply bribes

Reality views by sm –

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Tags – Tax Flipkart Ecommerce Fine Rs. 54 Crore Kerala