Danish Foods sued for ‘evading’ VAT of Tk 3.46 crore

Danish Foods Ltd, an organisation of Partex Group, has been sued for allegedly evading value-added tax (VAT) of Tk 3.46 crore.

The VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (VAIID) filed the case after it found the evidence of the VAT evasion reviewing the treasury related documents of Danish Foods between July 2017 and June 2018, VAIID said in a statement today.

After investigation, they found that the food company paid a VAT of Tk 2.09 crore, but the actual amount of VAT payable by the company was Tk 5.29 crore.

According to the report, the company has paid VAT of Tk 12.06 lakh at source against various service sectors but the amount of payable VAT was Tk 31.79 lakh. So, the company evaded VAT of Tk 22.06 lakh with interest.

Besides, the company evaded VAT of Tk 64.21 lakh on extra discounts on increased advertising price, tea paper purchase for tea, prices of tea box, butter, cartons and others.

Apart from that, for non-declaration of revised price due to 7.5 per cent increase in material price, Danish Foods also evaded VAT of about Tk 2.59 crore.

So, the company has a total amount of unpaid VAT of Tk 3.45 crore with interest.

In the meantime, the company authorities have accepted the allegation of unpaid VAT and voluntarily paid TK 2.45 crore, VAIID said in the statement.

Talking to The Daily Star, a top official of Danish Foods, seeking anonymity, said they will pay the rest of the amount of the VAT next month following due procedure.