KATHMANDU, Jan 26: Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) is forming a team of experts to advise it on Ncell's ownership transfer case.

Publishing a notice in Gorkhapatra daily, LTO invite interested tax experts, chartered accountants and lawyers to join its pool of experts. LTO will seek their opinions to determine capital gains tax (CGT) on deal worth around Rs 143 billion. 

Shova Kanta Paudel, chief of LTDO, told Republica that they were forming a roster of experts
for reassessment of the taxes, including in Ncell's case. 

Interested tax experts, chartered accountants, lawyers can register their names with the LTO within seven days of the publication of the notice. LTO will keep the name of such experts and their suggestion secret as per the existing law, according to Paudel. 

The LTO's fresh move came after the government pledged to settle the issue and recover CGT within three months in a meeting of parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) two weeks ago. Concluding a series of meeting on Tuesday, PAC also instructed the government to bar Ncell from rolling out 4G service until it outstanding CGT is cleared.

Malaysia-based telecom company, Axiata, bought shares in Ncell from Swedish company TeliSonera in a deal worth Rs 143 billion in December, 2015. Ncell has been dillydallying to clear CGT as per the law despite repeated directions from different authorities, including the PAC.

Ncell has argued that the current owner, as a buyer, has no responsibility to pay CGT. It insists that the responsibility rests with the seller. The GSM operator has paid around Rs 13 billion so far. 

PAC Member Ram Hari Khatiwada says Ncell should pay around 25 percent of the transaction amount, or Rs 36 billion, as CGT. 

 
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