Samsung fights $520m India tax demand, points to Reliance practice

Samsung has asked an Indian tribunal to quash a $520 million tax demand for allegedly misclassifying imports of networking gear, arguing officials were aware of the practice as India’s Reliance imported the same component in a similar manner for years, documents show. Samsung becomes the second major foreign company in recent months to challenge an Indian tax demand. Volkswagen has sued Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in court for a record demand of $1.4 billion for misclassifying its component imports. In the Samsung case, tax authorities in January asked Samsung to pay $520m for evading the 10-20 per cent tariffs by misclassifying imports of a key mobile tower equipment, which it then sold to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s telecom giant, Reliance Jio, from 2018 to 2021.