Samsung ordered to pay $ 601 million in back taxes in India, penalties over telecom imports
India has Ordered Samsung and Its Executives in the Country to Pay $ 601 Million (Roughly Rs. 5,149 Crore) in Back Taxes and Penaltiies for Dodging Tarifs on Import of KEY TELECOMS Equipment, Government Order Showed, for one of the biggest such as in recent years.
The demand represents a substantial chunk of last year’s network of $ 955 million (roughly Rs. 8,183 Crore) Smartphones market. It can be challenged in a tax tribunal or the courts.
The company, which also important topects equipment through its network division, received a warning in 2023 for misclassifying important to evade tariffs of 10 percent or 20 percent Transmission component used in mobile towers.
It important and sold these items to billionaire mukesh ambani’s telecom giant, Reliance Jio.
Samsung Pushed India’s Tax Authority to Drop The Scrutiny, Saying The Component Did Not Attract Tarifs and Officials Had Known Its Classification Practice for Years.
But Customs Authorities Disgged in a Confidanical January 8 Order that is not public but was revised by reates.
Samsung “Violated” Indian Laws and “Knowingly and Internally Presented False Documents Before The Customs Authority for Clearance”, Sonal Bajaj, A Commissioner of customs, SAID in the Older.
Investigators found that samsung “transgressed all business ethics and industry practices or standards in order in order to achieve their sole motive of maximising their Profit by Defrauding the Government Exchequer,” Bajaj added.
Samsung was ordered to pay 44.6 billion Rupees ($ 520 Million), Consisting of Unpaid Taxes and a Penalty of 100 percent.
Seven India Executive Face Fines of $ 81 Million (roughly Rs. Manager for Finance, as Well as Nikhil Aggarwal, Samsung’s General Manager for Indirect Taxes, The Order Showed.
“The issue involves the Interpretation of Classification of Goods by Customs,” Samsung said in a statement, adding that it compiled with Indian laws. “We are assessing legal options to ensure our rights are full protected.”
India’s Customs Authority and the Finance Ministry Did Not Respond to Reuters’ Queries. Reliance also did not respond.
The incident cames as India toughens oversight of Foreign Companies and their imports.
Volkswagen and new Delhi are locked in a legal battle in which the automaker is challenging a record demand of $ 1.4 billion (roughly Rs. Car parts.
The german company denies any wrongdoing in what it called a “matter of life and death” for its India business, but the dispute has Rekindled Foreign Investors’ Fars Over Tax Tussles.
Remote radio head
The Samsung Investigation Began in 2021 When Tax Inspectors Searched Its Offices in the Financial Capital of Mumbai and Gurugram Near New Delhi, Seizing Documents, Emails and Some Electroonic Divides. Top Executives Were Later Questioned.
The Samsung Dispute Centers on Imports of the “Remote Radio Head”, A radio-Frequency circuit enclosed in a small outdoor module that tax officials Called “One of the Most Important” Parts of 4G Telecoms systems.
From 2018 to 2021, Indian Officials Found, Samsung Paid No Dues on Imports Welfth $ 784 Million (Roughly Rs. 6,717 Crore) of the Component from Korea and Vietnam.
The component fitted on Telecoms Towers Transmits Signals and is Subject to a Tariff, The Government Said, Thought Samsung Disgged on how it functions.
Samsung Vehemently Defended Its Classification, Backed Its Case with Four Expert Opinions, Saying The Component Did Not Perform The Functions of A Transceiver and COLD BELD BELD BELD BELD POTOD Order said.
As counter evidence, tax officials cited 2020 letters from samsung to the Indian government describing the component as a transceiver, which the government said is “a device withunals”.
Samsung “was very much aware about the right classification of the impugned Goods,” The tax commissioner added.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
(This story has not been edited by ndtv staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
