"BBC must act as per the stated procedure or face the law."
According to the Hindustan Times, the BBC has acknowledged it evaded taxes in India.
Two officials from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) reportedly said the corporation paid lower taxes than its actual liability.
In an email to the tax department, the BBC admitted to underreporting the detected income which amounts to ‘tax evasion’ for which it will have to face recovery as well as penalty.
Around £3.8 million is believed to have been underreported by the BBC.
An official told Hindustan Times:
“BBC must act as per the stated procedure or face the law. The Department will continue to take action against it until the matter is taken to the logical conclusion.”
The report stated that despite the initial confession, the BBC will have to file a revised return for it to be taken seriously.
This comes months after tax surveys were carried out at BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai by the Income Tax Department in February 2023.
At the time, the IT department reportedly “gathered several evidence” which indicated that tax had not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group.
In a statement at the time, CBDT said the income and profits disclosed by BBC group entities in India were “not commensurate” keeping in mind the scale of their operations.
It added: “The survey operations also revealed that services of seconded employees have been utilised for which reimbursement has been made by the Indian entity to the foreign entity concerned.”
In April 2023, the Enforcement Directorate registered a case against BBC for alleged foreign exchange violations.
The case was filed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
High-level employees of the organisation including one of the BBC India directors were interrogated by the law enforcement agency.
Despite the report, an IT official has dismissed talk that the BBC has admitted to tax evasion in India.
According to the official, there is no such standard operating procedure (SOP) for informal or formal emailing.
The official said: “There is a legal process of assessment.
“There is no such SOP for formal or informal emailing.
“Indian tax laws don’t allow any liberal treatment if the taxpayer accepts misdoing.”
The official went on to say that a revised return will not help as one can file it only for the last financial year.
He added: “The tax concealment can be for over a year. So, filing revised returns won’t help.
“They have to file returns now in response to notice under Section 148 to be issued by the department as per the procedure, after giving an opportunity. It is too pre-ponderous to respond to it.”