Zomato receives fresh Rs 9.45 crore GST demand notice

Online food delivery platform Zomato has received a fresh Goods and Service Tax (GST) demand notice for about Rs 9.45 crore with interest and penalty.

The company said in a stock regulatory filing that the demand has been raised by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Karnataka.

"This is to inform that the company has received an order for FY 2019-20 pursuant to the audit of GST returns and accounts by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Karnataka raising demand of GST of Rs 5,01,95,462, along with interest of Rs 3,93,58,743 and penalty of Rs 50,19,546," Zomato said in its BSE filing.

“We believe that we have a strong case on merits and the company will be filing an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority,” said the company in response to the tax notice.

Zomato shares closed 0.10 per cent higher at Rs 200.35 on Friday.

This is not the first time the food delivery company has received a tax notice.

Last month, the online food delivery platform received a GST demand and penalty order of more than Rs 2 crore from Delhi's sales tax officer.

The order consists of Rs 2,22,91,376 in GST demand with interest of Rs 2,08,98,164 and a penalty of Rs 22,29,136 for the April 2018 to March 2019 period. In April, the company also received a GST demand and penalty order for Rs 11.81 crore.

Earlier this month, Zomato had said it received notices from the tax authorities in Delhi and Karnataka over alleged short payment of GST in 2018 amounting to Rs 4.2 crore.