Vodafone tax liability seen at around Rs 20,000cr: Fin Secy

The government is in no mood to cut Vodafone any slack. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, the finance secretary RS Gujral said that the earlier tax order to Vodafone stands validated by the finance bill. He also added that Vodafone's liability is seen at around Rs 20000 crore.

However, no fresh tax notice will be sent to Vodafone. The government is expecting another Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 crore from tax on other deals, Gujaral informed.
Meanwhile, he also said that General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR)will be applicable on income in FY14. Elaborating further, he said that GAAR will also be applicable to Indian investors and while it’s threshold will be on terms of tax and not turnover.
He added, "The government is trying best to address issues in GAAR. People were taken by surprise that it was brought in the finance bill. They had anticipated it would come along with the DTC which they thought would come from 1 April 2013. Second, certain implementation issues are still unresolved. People wanted to know what is the threshold? We would bring that in the rules. Second, can we list out what are the arrangements which are permissible and which are non-permissible in order to try and bring about certainty in the minds of the assessing officers and the other field officers of the tax dept?"