Apex court rules in favour of Ncell

Kathmandu / August 26:The Supreme Court gave a ruling in Ncell’s favour in a case filed by the private telecom against Large Taxpayers’ Office for determining Rs 62.63 billion as applicable capital gains tax on Ncell buyout deal.

The LLTO had officially determined Rs 62.63 billion as applicable CGT on the Ncell buyout deal on April 16 and had ordered Ncell to deposit Rs 39.06 billion, as the telecom firm has already deposited Rs 23.57 billion as CGT and late fee.

However, Ncell on April 22, had moved the SC against LTO, claiming that it needed to pay a capital gains tax of only Rs 14.5 billion to LTO, and not Rs 39.06 billion as determined by LTO for the sale of its shares to Axiata Investment UK Ltd.

Following this, SC had stayed the LTO’s decision to collect Rs 39.06 billion tax from Ncell.

The SC ruled that LTO’s decision to impose Rs 39.06 billion CGT on Ncell was wrong, as the LTO calculated the whole due amount without deducting the advance capital gains tax that Ncell had paid earlier.