IT Department Asks Robert Vadra To Pay Rs 25 Crore For Tax Evasion

Son-in-law of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has landed himself in fresh trouble as the Income Tax (IT) department has issued a notice to him. Robert Vadra, one of the directors of Delhi-based of Sky Light Hospitality LLP to pay Rs. 25.8 crores as the tax for the assessment year 2010-11.

Reassessment Report For Robert Vadra’s Company

A report prepared by the IT Department stated that an assessment of the firm’s income shows that in the year 2010-11, the actual income of the company was nearly Rs. 43 crores. However, after a reassessment of the report, the IT department decided to treat capital gains as business income, reported India Today.

An official of the tax department told India Today, “Vadra’s firms are into buying and selling of land which is a pure business decision. But his tax declarations showed that these are long-term investments he had made. While the former attracts a 30 per cent tax, the latter gets the benefit of indexation (of the property) as well as long-term capital gains which are not more than 20 per cent. Now he will have to pay the difference which works out to Rs 25 crore including interest for the past seven years”.

“There is no tax on capital gains on the sale of agricultural land if it is 8 km away from the urban limits of a city”, he added.

The Court Orders

Earlier in April 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the firm which sought to challenge the IT Department’s reassessment of the company’s 2010-11 profits from land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan. The report that was tabled by the IT Department stated that it had suspected that over Rs 35 crore that the firm earned in the financial year, escaped assessment, reported Firstpost.

Reportedly, the firm had first filed a petition against the reassessment report with the Delhi High Court. After the HC too dismissed the petition, Robert Vadra challenged its decision in front of the apex court.

Vadra went to court on the ground that the reassessment notice was issued to an entity named Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd which did not “exist on the date of issue of notice” and that the company had by then converted itself into an LLP or Limited Liability Partnership. This objection was also quashed by the court, reported India Today.

Notably, the reassessment notice was issued against the firm in connection with a land deal with the DLF Group. In one deal, Vadra bought a property at Mauja Shikohpur near Manesar in Haryana for Rs 7.9 crore and sold it for Rs 58 crore to DLF Hospitality. The same tax notice also exposes another discrepancy where Vadra bought the Manesar village land from Omkareshwar Properties for Rs 7.95 crore but the buyer never encashed the cheque.