Zomato received a tax demand, interest, along with penalty, to the tune of Rs 23.26 crore from Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Karnataka, the company said on Sunday.
In a regulatory filing to the BSE, the food delivery platform said it has received an order for FY 2018-19 pursuant to the audit of GST returns and accounts by the Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Karnataka, raising demand of GST of Rs 11,27,23,564, along with applicable interest and penalty totaling to Rs 23,26,64,271.
Zomato received the GST demand in respect of excess amount that it got as input tax credit, along with interest and penalty.
It further maintained that it will appeal against the order before the appropriate authority. In a letter to the capital markets, Zomato company secretary and compliance officer Sandhya Sethia said the company believes it has a strong case against the GST demand.
“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,” Sethia said.
Zomato said it had clarified on the issue along with relevant documents and judicial precedents, which appears to not have been appreciated by the authorities while passing the order.
“The company believes that it has a strong case to defend the matter before the appellate authority and does not expect any financial impact on the company,” Sethia said in the letter.
In the third quarter of this financial year, Zomato reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 138 crore, compared to a net loss of Rs 347 crore in the year-ago period.