Monday, April 14, 2008

Microsoft Pays Up I-T Arrears

Microsoft Corp, through subsidiary Gracemac Corp, has paid over Rs 600 crore as tax on royalties it earned in India between 1999 and 2005, a source in the Central Board of Direct Taxes told DNA Money.

Corporate communication executives at Microsoft India refused to comment saying the matter was sub-judice. Neither would they say why the payment was made when the matter was sub-judice.

DNA Money had on April 1 reported the commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) CIT(A), New Delhi ordering Microsoft to pay up over Rs 700 crore as tax and interest on the royalties it earned by selling its software in India. Microsoft had the option of appealing to higher courts, viz., the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, High Court and Supreme Court.


Sources said the glare of the income tax department will now be on some of the other IT MNCs operating in India, such as Oracle, SAP, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Apple, which have created 'virtual corporate structures to hide their earnings'.

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