The Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) wing of the income tax (I-T) department, on Friday conducted surveys on three major pharmaceutical companies following information of TDS rule violations. The surveys were conducted on GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pharmaceuticals, Wockhardt and Piramal Healthcare.
The surveys, in which around 60 I-T officers and staff took part, were conducted at five premises belonging to these groups. The surveys are expected to go on till Saturday morning. I-T officers said that in the case of GSK, the survey was conducted to verify information that the company was not deducting TDS while paying commission to the distributors of their medicines and products.
During survey on Wockhardt the department found that the company was getting drugs manufactured abroad and deducted TDS at the rate of 2% instead of 10%.The department found that Wockhardt had made payment of around Rs 100 crore to the manufacturers on which it deducted only Rs 2 crore as TDS. The company should have actually deducted Rs 10 crore TDS.
The department would now ask the company to deposit the remaining Rs 8 crore. It could also levy penalty and interest on the unpaid TDS. The officers were also checking documents to verify if TDS was deposited on time.
Spokesperson from GSK India said, “As part of their normal survey, the IT-TDS department has requested the company for certain information.”
Spokesperson for Piramal refused to comment. Wockhardt spokesperson did not respond to calls.
