Kathmandu, February 2

Private telecom company, Ncell, has said that it will pay its outstanding capital gains tax (CGT) liabilities by June.

Ncell, which has already paid Rs 4.5 billion out of Rs 22.4 billion remaining CGT liability determined by the Large Taxpayers’ Office (LTO), has asked for permission to allow the company to clear its remaining tax liabilities in four instalments within June, informed Revenue Secretary Sishir Kumar Dhungana at the meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament held today.

As per him, Ncell has sent a letter stating that it will pay Rs 4.54 billion each by the end of March, April, May and June.

However, Dhungana said that the LTO is yet to respond to Ncell’s letter that sought the instalment facility. “Ncell is already delaying the tax clearance process. The company will be levied 15 per cent interest per annum on the pending tax amount that it should clear,” he informed.

Following the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC), which determined Rs 22.44 billion as the remaining CGT liability of Ncell, the LTO had given the company an ultimatum to pay Rs 22.6 billion (including interest) on December 23.

As the Ncell CGT controversy is also being dealt with by an international tribunal, which had ordered the government to halt CGT collection from Ncell, the telecom company had been in a dilemma about whether or not to pay the tax.

However, by depositing Rs 4.5 billion as CGT today, the telecom company has started complying with the SC verdict and the LTO direction.

At the meeting lawmakers also asked the government not to allow Ncell to use the additional frequency that the company won through spectrum auction held on December 19. Nepal Telecommunications Authority has not awarded the 9Mhz frequency that Ncell won in the 1800Mhz band asking Ncell first to clear its CGT liability.