Tax has not been paid on certain remittances: CBDT on IT survey at BBC offices

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued a press release on Feb. 17, regarding the IT survey operations at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai. "Survey action, under I-T Act, was carried out at business premises of group entities of a prominent int'l media company in Delhi & Mumbai. Despite substantial consumption of content, income/profits shown by various group entities not commensurate with scale of ops in India," said CBDT in the press release. In the press release, it was also mentioned that during the survey, the Department gathered several pieces of evidence pertaining to the operation of the organization which indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group. "Survey operations also revealed that services of seconded employees have been utilised for which reimbursement has been made by the Indian entity to the foreign entity concerned. Such remittance was also liable to be subject to withholding tax which has not been done," said CBDT. The survey operation began at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) offices in Delhi and Mumbai around 11:30 am on February 14.