India's Supreme Court has set 25th October as the next hearing for Vodafone's tax appeal. Vodafone could owe the Indian government more than 120 billion rupees (around £1.7 billion) following a court ruling earlier this month, although the company insists nothing is due. The case centres on Vodafone's 2007 purchase of Hutchison's Indian business, which saw Netherlands-based Vodafone International acquiring a stake in Hong Kong-based Hutchison; the stake was owned by a company in the Cayman Islands. Mumbai's High Court says Capital Gains Tax is payable and should have been collected by Vodafone.
Here in the UK, handset distributor European Telecom – which went into administration in 2007 – has won a case against HM Revenue and Customs involving £8.8 million in withheld VAT repayments. HMRC, which had disallowed the VAT because it was investigating a suspected VAT carousel fraud, has been ordered to repay around £13 million in VAT and costs. HMRC has an option to appeal against the decision.
Sources: Bloomberg.com; HindustanTimes.com; MobileNewsCWP.co.uk]