Amazon has not left Karnataka

Amazon, which has Value Added Tax (VAT) issues with the Karnataka government, has paid ₹35.80 crore in taxes from financial year 2013-14 to February 2015.

Chief Minister Siddaramaih, in a written reply in State Assembly, said, “The company has not transferred its business to the neighbouring State and has declared their tax liability at ₹35.80 crore.”

Classification

The State has brought e-commerce companies such as Amazon under the ambit of VAT. The government has classified Amazon’s businesses under Section 8 and also as per the definition of a dealer under Section 2 (12) of the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act, 2003 and expects Amazon to fall in line and pay the tax accordingly.

Dealers’s share

To a question on tax paid by dealers having branches and doing business with Amazon, the Chief Minister said, “The dealers who have registered with M/s Amazon seller services godown are declaring total sales in the monthly return to the department which include their direct sales as well as sales through e-commerce.

“Therefore, details of sales made through the platform of M/s Amazon seller service are not separately available with the commercial taxes department. As per the information furnished by the company, 393 dealers are transacting through their platform including warehousing facility,” he explained.

On Monday, the Chief Minister said that government was not under pressure from any e-commerce companies to resolve any tax dispute.

‘No pressure’

“The State government is not under pressure from e-commerce companies to resolve a tax dispute, especially from online retail giants Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba and others,” he said.

Responding to an Opposition charge that the government had bowed to the demands of the companies, the Chief Minister said Flipkart had paid ₹226 crore as tax and there is no question of them pressurising the government to resolve tax dispute.

“The government expects e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Alibaba and others to fall in line and pay tax under the Karnataka Value Added Tax Act, 2003,” he added.