Asserting that Indian tax authorities have no jurisdiction over it, telecom major Vodafone today said it will move the Supreme Court against the ruling of the Bombay High Court in a tax matter.
The High Court today dismissed Vodafone International's petition challenging the Income Tax (I-T) department's show-cause notice for payment of capital gains tax of around $two billion.
"Indian tax authorities have no jurisdiction over Vodafone. The Bombay High Court has given eight weeks time, we shall appeal against the order in the Supreme Court," Dinesh Kanabar, Executive Director with PriceWaterhouseCooper and Advisor to Vodafone in the matter, said.
The division bench of Justices S Radhakrishnan and Anand Nirgude, however, continued the earlier stay to the show-cause notice for further eight weeks to enable Vodafone file an appeal.
Vodafone Holdings International, a Netherlands-based company, picked up the stake of Hutchison in Hutchison-Essar to form the new entity Vodafone-Essar in a $11.2 billion deals in 2006.
I-T authorities issued a notice to Vodafone Essar last year for capital gains tax to the tune of around $two billion. Though seller of assets has to pay this tax, I-T expected Vodafone to deduct the tax before making the payment to Hutch.
Vodafone, a majority shareholder in India's second largest private mobile telecom firm Vodafone-Essar, has a subscriber base of over 56 million.