Nokia India auditors appear before income tax department

Senior officials of multi-national audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, auditors for Nokia India, today appeared before the income tax (investigation) department and were questioned in connection with the alleged tax default by the Finnish handset maker's plant here, IT sources said. "They have come for interrogation. This is what I can say," a senior income tax (investigation) official said.

Early this week, IT sleuths summoned PricewaterhouseCoopers for questioning regarding the alleged tax default by Nokia India. "In the matter of the Nokia case, I-T department has called us as they are seeking our inputs on this. We will extend full cooperation to them on this matter," PricewaterhouseCoopers had said.

On January 8, I-T department had conducted a survey operation at Nokia's Sriperumpudur factory and said it had found 'prima facie' defaults in TDS deductions on royalty payments made by the plant to its parent company.

According to an I-T official, it was alleged that the Nokia had made tax defaults of about Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 crore. In a separate statement, Nokia India had said it was fully cooperating with the IT department to ensure officials get the necessary information.