Domestic, multinational firms owe Rs 6.9-lakh crore to I-T dept

The latest data from the Finance Ministry shows that domestic and multinational companies owe a staggering Rs 6.89 lakh crore to the tax department in outstanding arrears. The Income Tax Department has already sent a missive to the companies asking them to pay up.

The 7 lakh crore figure includes central excise duty service tax arrears and corporate tax dues as on December 31, 2016. India Inc owes around a whopping Rs 4.71 lakh crore to the government exchequer. This figure is not unusual. Every year,large number of tax demands are challenged and as a result close to 5 percent oftotal direct tax, gets locked in litigation every year, leading to huge amount of arrears.
Meanwhile, tax department sources tell CNBC-TV18 that efforts to collect the pending dues are ongoing and that the tax department aims to reduce the pending dues by the end of next fiscal.