NEW DELHI -(Dow Jones)- Indian tax authorities are waiting for the official notification of the Finance Bill before sending a reminder to Vodafone Group PLC. (VOD.LN) to pay taxes and interest of around INR200 billion ($3.5 billion) on its 2007 deal to enter the country, a senior finance ministry official said Wednesday.
The Bill, part of the federal budget for the fiscal year that began April 1, allows local authorities to retroactively tax mergers in which an Indian asset is transferred--similar to the structure Vodafone adopted while buying a majority stake in Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.'s India venture.
Once the Bill is notified, 18 to 19 similar deals, which are in various stages of processing after tax demands were raised, will come under the scanner, the official told reporters.
He added that eight more are likely to get tax demands for similarly structured deals.
Together, the tax demands could amount to around INR400 billion, the official added.
-By Prasanta Sahu, Dow Jones Newswires; +91-9967586928; romit.guha@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 30, 2012 09:41 ET (13:41 GMT)
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