sales tax

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia (whose smartphone business is in the process of being sold to Microsoft though held up by a Rs 3,500 crore guarantee imposed by the Supreme Court in another transfer tax case) has filed a writ in the Madras high court to contest a claim by the Tamil Nadu VAT department.

The tax office is claiming that devices manufactured in Chennai were not exported but in fact sold in India, and therefore subject to Rs 2,400 crore sales tax. Nokia said in a press release that the claim was "absurd" and "completely without merit and counter to domestic tax laws... and Nokia has proved consistently that devices produced at Chennai are exported abroad" [Business Standard]