PAC instructs Finance Minister to immediately collect CGT from Ncell

Kathmandu / July 13: The Public Account Committee under the Legislature Parliament has directed the Finance Ministry to obtain capital gains tax from Ncell, a privately owned mobile network operator in Nepal, at the earliest.

Today’s PAC meeting took a decision to this effect, asking the Ministry to collect Rs 60.71 billion that Ncell has to pay in CGT as determined by Large Taxpayers’ Office (LTO) on June 27 and relay the information of the matter to the PAC.

The PAC also directed the Ministry and the LTO to provide information about details of the company like how many times its ownership was transferred and its shares were handed over and the details of transactions made in that course, said PAC President Dor Prasad Upadhyay.

According to a source, the company’s ownership was transferred 12 times so far that include the latest report of a Malaysian company named Axaita, which reportedly bought the company from a Norwegian company named Telia Sonera.

Meanwhile, lawmakers at the meeting cast doubt whether CGT of Rs 60.71 would be collected from the company.

Lawmaker Bishnu Poudel, also the former Finance Minister, stressed that the government should first made it clear that who-either the seller or the buyer-should pay the tax and made efforts to obtain it as soon as possible.

Ramhari Khatiwada and Dharaj Gurung expressed their concern over the nod given to the company by another parliamentary committee for the operation of 4G system.

Such move was interference in the PAC’s jurisdictions, they claimed. The permission granted by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) with the support from another committee within the Parliament was against the PAC decision to ban the company from launching a new technology until it clears the CGT, they added.

The PAC has also drawn the attention of Speaker Onsari Gharti towards this end.

Lawmakers Bharat Saha, Meena Pun, Hari Nepal, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Baddsah Kurmi and Shatrudhan Mahato demanded action against those government employees lenient to the company.

Revenue Secretary Shishir Dhungana said the Finance Ministry had already sent a letter to the Nepal Rastra Bank, asking it not to allow the company to send its any sorts of gains and income abroad until the tax clearance.

Similarly, the meeting has directed the Finance Ministry to make it clear in writing why the capital expenditure increased all of a sudden in the end of the fiscal ( current) year.RSS