BBC admits paying lower taxes, underreporting ₹40 cr in India: Reports

BBC has reportedly acknowledged that it may have been paying lower taxes in India than its liability, reported Times of India quoting sources. The broadcaster, however, is yet to file revised returns or make a written submission to the I-T department.

As per Hindustan Times, BBC has apparently confessed to paying lower income tax in a mail to the income tax department. The publication cited a source and reported that BBC must take the formal route to comply by filing revised returns and paying all dues, penalty and interests, which runs in several crores. Hindustan Times also mentioned that the mail acknowledged that the company had underreported some ₹40 crore of income in its tax returns.

The Income Tax department surveyed its offices at Delhi and Mumbai in February for three staright days. The Income Tax department on 17th February had said that during the course of operations, evidence indicated that tax was not been paid on certain remittances. The group's foreign entities had not disclosed the remittances as income in India.

A survey is an exercise of checking books and other documents.

While the income tax officials were surveying the BBC offices in February, the broadcaster had said that it was “fully cooperating” with the authorities and it hoped to have this situation resolved as soon as possible.

The BBC has so far not issued any official comment or statement in response to this.