Ncell pays additional tax amount as CGT

Ncell, the leading private GSM operator has paid Rs 13.6 billion to the Government. The tax amount was pending from last year when Malaysian operator Axiata bought Ncell from European giant Telia-sonera. As per the rule, 25 percent of the profit made from the sale, shall be provided to government as Capital Gain taxes. The Ncell CGT issue keep on surfacing, that hindered the operator for new services like 4G, until lately.

Also read: Ncell starts operating 4G in the capital.

Ncell pays the additional amount of Rs 13.6 billion to the Large Taxpayer’s office on June 4, 2017. Earlier they paid Rs 10 billion as the CGT. Despite that payment, huge pressure mounted on Ncell to pay more amount. There was an uproar in social media for the Ncell’s hesitant to pay all of the taxes aroused. “No Tax No Ncell” trended in twitter for some time, encouraging people to boycott Ncell service if the Ncell CGT tax issue is not resolved.

There has been attempts of clearing the CGT issue from the cabinet. They agreed verbally to get the tax amount from seller, as the proposal of Finance minister in cabinet. But soon they had to revert back, due to huge pressure from people and tax pundits.

The amount which Malaysian telecom giant Axiata paid to buy Ncell from Teliasonera was USD 1.03 billion. Even after the latest payment, there may be claims for some  more remaining. As tax pundits claim that Ncell needs to pay Rs 33 billion as Capital gain taxes. Lets wait for more updates on the Ncell CGT issue.