Nokia yet to come up with concrete proposal to settle tax row

NEW DELHI: Nokia India Pvt Ltd so far has not come to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) with a concrete proposal to settle its tax row with the department, a senior finance ministry official said today.

"The apex court had asked Nokia India Pvt Ltd to come CBDT with a concrete proposal. They (Nokia) have not come to us. The Supreme Court (SC) has dismissed Nokia's plea. Things stand at that," CBDT Chairman R K Tewari told reporters here.

Nokia, whose devices and services unit is being bought by Microsoft, is fighting a Rs 21,000-crore claim by the Income Tax Department over royalty payments made to its parent company in Finland.

The apex court on March 14 had dismissed Nokia's plea against the Delhi High Court order directing its parent company in Finland to give an undertaking to fulfil the conditions relating to payment of tax dues.

The apex court's decision not to interfere with the High Court order had assumed importance as it would put hurdles on Nokia to transfer its Chennai plant which is a part of the USD 7.2 billion global deal with Microsoft.

The apex court had also earlier asked the Nokia India Pvt Ltd to come up with a concrete proposal to settle its tax row with the I-T Department.

The handset maker had said it would approach the tax authorities for their approval for the transfer of its assets to Microsoft along with final valuation of its Indian assets.

However, when the company submitted the report of internal valuation of its Chennai plant and not that of an expert, the bench had disapproved it.

"This is no way. You should have got valuation report by an expert. We wanted to have some authentic valuation," the Court had observed.

Nokia's counsel had submitted the projected tax demand is about Rs 21,000 crore.

The I-T Department's counsel had said the company was not fair with the court and had "not come to court with clean hands".

Solicitor General Mohan Prasaran had said Nokia India had made no profits but it gave Rs 3,500 crore dividend to its parent company Nokia Corporation Finland by taking money from its reserves.