Online food delivery platform Zomato, in a regulatory filing, said it has received a tax demand of ₹803.4 crore from the Maharashtra GST department.
The tax demand, which includes interest and penalty, is for non-payment of GST on delivery charges.
The company said it would file an appeal against the tax demand. "We believe that we have a strong case on merits, which is backed by opinions from our external legal and tax advisors. The company will be filing an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority," it added.
This is the latest challenge for Zomato which, along with its rival Swiggy, is facing antitrust scrutiny for allegedly violating competition laws and for being biased towards selected restaurants listed on their platforms.
In December last year, the tax department had asked the Deepinder Goyal-led company why the order along with the penalty should not be levied.
At that time Zomato had argued that it "is not liable to pay any tax since the delivery charge is collected by the company on behalf of the delivery partners" and "delivery partners have provided the delivery services to the customers and not the company".
Because of the booming food "order-in" activity and a spike in quick-commerce Zomato's shares have more than doubled so far this year. On Friday, its share settled at ₹288.40 on BSE, up 1.23% from its previous close.
(By arrangement with livemint.com)
