Instakart, the logistics arm of e-commerce giant Flipkart, and online food delivery platform Swiggy were visited by the tax officials with respect to fraudulent Input Tax credit claims by its vendors. Both the companies confirmed the same.
Swiggy in its statement said, "As a law-abiding company, we are in full compliance with the tax and legal mandates. The survey by the IT officials is currently underway and our team is extending full cooperation in the matter." According to sources, the scrutiny of the department was a follow up on the transactions of third party vendors who had defaulted on the payments and was already under the scanner of the tax department.
Flipkart, on the other hand, in a statement said, "The officials from the income tax department have contacted us. We are providing them all the required information and are extending our full cooperation. We believe we are in full compliance with all applicable tax and legal requirements."
According to sources in the tax department, the intelligence wing of the GST is keeping a close on several other such transactions related to false input credits, largely raised by fake invoices. "We can't disclose any particular details pertaining to this matter, however we have red flagged a few others also," said the tax official who wished not to be named.