Revenue Tribunal upholds decision to recover Rs 55m from Gorkha Brewery

KATHMANDU, Aug 14: The Revenue Tribunal has upheld the decision of Inland Revenue Department (IRD) to recover VAT and excise duty along with penalty worth Rs 55 million from the Gorkha Brewery.



The IRD had slapped Gorkha Brewery VAT with penalty of Rs 25 million and excise duty with penalty of Rs 30 million.

The Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) had seized 14 truckloads, or 887 cartons, of beers without excise duty stickers or with used stickers issued by the IRD on October 25, 2008. The cartons also didn´t have labels.[break]



“We found that the beers were supplied without using genuine stickers of IRD in an apparent attempt to evade VAT and excise duty,” an official at DRI, who has been looking into the case, said.



The DRI team had seized the consignments in Thankot while there were being transported to the capital from Gorkha Brewery´s production unit in Mukundapur of Nawalparasi.

After investigation, the DRI had decided to recover Rs 55 million in VAT and excise duty along with penalty from the brewer for revenue fraud.

Responding to the decision, the company had registered an application at IRD for administrative review of the case. However, IRD had upheld the decision, prompting Gorkha Brewery to knock the doors of the Revenue Tribunal.



Revenue officials also said the company was also found to have supplied 190 cartons of wines manufactured by another liquor company. “During our investigation we found that the firm was distributing liquors produced by another company which is against the existing law,” the official said.

Suspecting huge revenue fraud by the firm, DRI had form an investigation team, which found mismatch between record in books and actual stocks maintained at the factory´s warehouse. The team had also found that the company sold beers through loose bills, inflicting huge revenue loss on the government.



“We had decided to recover Rs 55 million from the company after we were convinced about the revenue fraud,” said the official.

Though DRI had initially put ban on sales of products manufactured by Gorkha Brewery, it had lifted the bank after accepting deposit of Rs 40 million from the brewer.

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