Bbc india income tax raid

As per the official, there is no such standard operating procedure (SOP) for informal or formal emailing. “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 told TNIE. Some sections of the media reported BBC has admitted to tax evasion and under-reporting of income by `40 crore through an informal email. The income tax department had conducted a three-day survey of BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai in February, which revealed the income of its various group entities was not commensurate with the scale of operations in India. As per the official, BBC filing a revised return will not help as one can file it only for the last financial year. “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,” the official cited above said. As per experts, a survey is an information-gathering exercise and should not be confused with a search, commonly known as ‘raid’. During survey proceedings, tax authorities can gather information and record statements of the taxpayer. However, a statement on oath can’t be obtained during the survey. The finance ministry in February had said,“The survey (of BBC premises) has thrown up several discr...

“The department gathered several evidences pertaining to the operation of the organisation which indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement. It said they found “several discrepancies and inconsistencies” and had gathered “crucial evidence” from statements of employees, digital evidence and documents which would be examined more fully later. There was no immediate comment from the BBC. It said on Thursday that it would continue to cooperate with Indian authorities and hoped that the matter could be resolved as soon as possible. The Press Trust of India news agency cited unnamed officials as saying on Thursday that investigators collected financial data from select BBC staffers and made copies of electronic and paper data from the news organisation. Critics of Prime Minister The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” was broadcast in the U.K. last month, examining the prime minister’s role in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the western state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister at the time. More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence. Modi has denied allegations that authorities under his watch allowed and even encouraged the bloodshed, and the Supreme Court said it found no evidence to prosecute him. Last year, the court dismissed a petition filed by a Muslim victim questioning Modi’s exoneration. The program...

Police officers at a building housing the BBC offices in Delhi on Tuesday. The BBC’s offices have been raided for a second day as part of a tax investigation. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters Police officers at a building housing the BBC offices in Delhi on Tuesday. The BBC’s offices have been raided for a second day as part of a tax investigation. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters Dozens of employees were held in their offices for hours by officials from the income tax department on Tuesday. “The Income Tax Authorities remain at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. Many staff have now left the building, but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiries” said BBC news in a tweet late on Tuesday evening. Officials have said they are investigating the BBC for tax evasion, diversion of profits and non-compliance of Indian law. The BBC said they were cooperating fully with the searches. Read more The investigation comes just weeks after the release of a BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, which angered the government. The documentary looked at the rising tensions between Modi and India’s minority Muslim population and revisited allegations that Modi was complicit in inciting religious riots in Gujarat in 2002 which killed 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. The government had condemned the documentary as “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative” alleging that the “bias, the lack of objecti...

A police officer stands at the entrance of the office building where Indian tax authorities raided BBC's office in New Delhi on Tuesday. Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images MUMBAI, India — Indian tax agents conducted what they called "surveys" of BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai for a second consecutive day Wednesday, just weeks after the British broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. More than a dozen income tax officials first entered BBC newsrooms early Tuesday, seizing accounts, financial documents, and phones of BBC employees. They told those who had not yet come into the office to stay home. More than a 100 employees were in the offices at the time. Condemnation has poured in from press freedom advocates inside India and around the world. The Press Club of India Reaction was more muted though from the U.S. State Department, where spokesperson Ned Price The searches came weeks after the BBC aired a two-part documentary series critical of India's prime minister, Narendra Modi. India: The Modi Question examined Modi's role in anti-Muslim raids that killed hundreds in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. After the documentary aired, a Hindu nationalist organization petitioned the country's Supreme Court to ban the BBC in India. The Supreme Court A spokesperson for Modi's party held a news conference Tuesday and told the media that the BBC was "rubbish" and alleged that it was "corrupt." The BBC says it's "fully cooperating" with Indian aut...

Months after tax survey by the Indian income tax department, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) has now “acknowledged” that it may have paid lower taxes in India than its liability. Tax surveys were carried out in BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai in February. The broadcasting company is yet to submit revised returns or make a written submission to the I-T department. A report by Hindustan Times said that BBC has informally acknowledged that it has evaded tax in India. The company is yet to follow the formal procedure for the same, the report quoted two officials aware of the development requesting anonymity. George Soros’ hand is clearly visible in thinly veiled attempts of Amnesty International, HRW to mar PM Modi’s US visit Amnesty’s desperate attempt to play spoilsport by screening BBC documentary ahead of PM Modi’s US visit BBC confess to underreporting As per the report, in an email to the tax department, BBC has apparently confessed to underreporting of the detected income which is equal to “tax evasion” for which the broadcaster will have to face recovery as well as penalty, BBC must follow the formal route to comply by filing revised returns and clear all dues, pay penalty as well as interests, which mount to several crores, the report quoted one of the officials as saying. BBC’s email to I-T department The British broadcaster, funded by the UK government, in an email to Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has confessed that it had underreported some Rs 40 cror...

India’s income tax authority continued raids on the BBC’s offices Thursday in In a short statement, the BBC said it was “fully cooperating” with authorities during the raid, adding that it hoped to have the situation “resolved as soon as possible.” On Wednesday, it advised most of its staff to work from home, telling employees to “answer questions comprehensively” from any officials. It added that they could “refrain from answering questions on personal income if asked” but that “they should answer other salary-related queries,” according to a Although few details of the tax investigation have been made public, media watchdogs and rights groups have expressed fear that the raids are politically motivated. “Indian authorities have used tax investigations as a pretext to target critical news outlets before and must cease harassing BBC employees immediately, in line with the values of freedom that should be espoused in the world’s largest democracy,” Beh Lih Yi, from the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a In recent years, similar raids have targeted journalists, think tanks, and civil society organizations critical of the Indian government, in what rights groups say is part of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s growing crackdown on dissent. It includes critics being Who else has been subject to tax raids? Last year, the Income Tax Department alleged that three different organizations contravened the laws around foreign funding contributions. Tax officials raided the...

Indian tax authorities have raided the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the country in the wake of a In a tweet, the BBC news department’s press office on Tuesday said the tax authorities were “currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating”. “We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible,” the statement said. A source at the company told Al Jazeera that employees’ laptops and mobile phones had been seized. Those in the offices at the time of the raid were not allowed to leave and employees scheduled for night shifts were told not to come in pending further advice, the source said. The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible. — BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) The tax department did not respond to emails, messages and calls seeking comment. India’s foreign ministry on January 19 The BBC has stood by its reporting in the programme, saying it was “rigorously researched according to the highest editorial standards” and contained a wide array of voices and perspectives. BBC documentary banned The raids come weeks after Modi’s government More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in one of the worst incidents of religious violence in independent India. The violence erupted after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire, killing 59. The documentary, which was no...

Key points: • One of two sources in the BBC's New Delhi office said tax officials were speaking with the accounts officer and no-one was allowed to leave • The BBC documentary focused on Narendra Modi's leadership during the Gujarat riots • The tax department did not respond immediately to emails seeking comment The documentary focused on the Hindu nationalist politician's leadership as chief minister of the western state during the deadly communal riots, in which at least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims, though activists put the toll at more than twice that number. "The Income Tax Authorities are currently at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai and we are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," the BBC said in a statement. The tax department did not respond immediately to emails seeking comment. One of two sources in the BBC's New Delhi office told Reuters that tax officials were speaking with the accounts officer and no-one was allowed to leave. While the search was underway, television news crews set up outside the office near Connaught Place, in central Delhi, to report developments. Loading Twitter content The main opposition Congress Party condemned the tax department's actions. "The IT raid at BBC's offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism," politician and Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal wrote on Twitter. "We condemn these intimidation tactics in the har...

Police officers at a building housing the BBC offices in Delhi on Tuesday. The BBC’s offices have been raided for a second day as part of a tax investigation. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters Police officers at a building housing the BBC offices in Delhi on Tuesday. The BBC’s offices have been raided for a second day as part of a tax investigation. Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters Dozens of employees were held in their offices for hours by officials from the income tax department on Tuesday. “The Income Tax Authorities remain at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai. Many staff have now left the building, but some have been asked to remain and are continuing to cooperate with the ongoing enquiries” said BBC news in a tweet late on Tuesday evening. Officials have said they are investigating the BBC for tax evasion, diversion of profits and non-compliance of Indian law. The BBC said they were cooperating fully with the searches. Read more The investigation comes just weeks after the release of a BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, which angered the government. The documentary looked at the rising tensions between Modi and India’s minority Muslim population and revisited allegations that Modi was complicit in inciting religious riots in Gujarat in 2002 which killed 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. The government had condemned the documentary as “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative” alleging that the “bias, the lack of objecti...

“The department gathered several evidences pertaining to the operation of the organisation which indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement. It said they found “several discrepancies and inconsistencies” and had gathered “crucial evidence” from statements of employees, digital evidence and documents which would be examined more fully later. There was no immediate comment from the BBC. It said on Thursday that it would continue to cooperate with Indian authorities and hoped that the matter could be resolved as soon as possible. The Press Trust of India news agency cited unnamed officials as saying on Thursday that investigators collected financial data from select BBC staffers and made copies of electronic and paper data from the news organisation. Critics of Prime Minister The documentary, “India: The Modi Question,” was broadcast in the U.K. last month, examining the prime minister’s role in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the western state of Gujarat, where he was chief minister at the time. More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence. Modi has denied allegations that authorities under his watch allowed and even encouraged the bloodshed, and the Supreme Court said it found no evidence to prosecute him. Last year, the court dismissed a petition filed by a Muslim victim questioning Modi’s exoneration. The program...