Five-Star Tax Arrears Zoom

The IT arrears have shot up from Rs 20.83 crore as on 31 March, 1998, to Rs 189.66 crore as on 31 March, 2000, a ministry source said. Indian Hotels Ltd (IHL), Mumbai, which owns the Taj group, topped the current list with a total demand of Rs 100.53 crore, up from Rs 15.12 crore on 31 March, 1998, he added.

The source, however, added that the demand from IHL is being adjusted against refunds from assessment years 1993-94 and 1999-2000, which will bring the arrears amount to nil. Second in the list of hotel companies to have run up IT arrears as on 31 March 2000 is ITC Ltd. The total demand on the company was Rs 75.93 crore as against Rs 5.21 crore on 31 March, 1998.

 

The source clarified these are the total arrears of the ITC group as a whole and all arrears may not be attributed to hotel business. The departmental process for IT recovery is on, according to the source.

The total arrears demand of Mumbai based Elel Hotels & Investments Ltd was Rs 4.03 crore on March 31, 2000. The source said that the recovery process was on, though the hotel was non-functional as the building was damaged in the 1993 bomb blasts.

The other five-star hotels in the list include Sun-N-Sand Hotel of Mumbai (Rs 1.81 crore), Piem Hotels Ltd (Rs 1.88 crore), Delhi based Asian Hotels (Rs 3.03 crore), CHL Ltd (Rs 1.19 crore), Park Hotel of Calcutta (Rs 0.35 crore), Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Ltd (Rs 0.51 crore) and Oriental Hotels (P) Ltd (Rs 0.38 crore).

According to the source, in the case of Sun-N-Sand hotel, the demand has reduced to nil after giving effect to an appellate order. A refund of Rs 1.88 crore and Rs 2.12 crore is already being adjusted in the cases of Piem Hotels and Asian Hotels respectively.

In the case of CHL, a cheque of Rs 35 lakh has been received on August 2, 2000 and the balance demand has been stayed till December 31, 2000, the source added.

In most of the cases, however, the arrears demand has been adjusted against the refund due.