Maruti Suzuki urges govt for 'as-is' settlement or amnesty scheme for indirect tax disputes
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Thursday urged the central government to introduce an amnesty scheme or an "as-is" settlement option to resolve past indirect tax disputes, enabling the automotive (auto) industry to clear legacy litigation and focus on growth.
Speaking at the 3rd Siam Automotive Taxation Conference, Arnab Roy, chief financial officer (CFO) of MSIL, emphasised that resolving historical tax disputes is critical to providing long-term certainty for businesses.
He said the government must find a "smarter way to address the past".
Addressing Legacy Litigation
"Because now that we have room for the future (due to Goods and Services Tax/GST 2.0), we need to find a smarter way to address past litigation.
"Either we take an as-is position, or we find some kind of amnesty solution, so that we can really get these past litigations out of the way in a smarter way," Roy said.
An amnesty scheme is a government relief programme that allows companies to pay the principal tax dues while waiving interest and penalties. An "as-is" position means accepting past tax filings as final without raising retrospective tax demands.
Roy's call for an amnesty mechanism comes as MSIL and its wholly owned subsidiary, Suzuki Motor Gujarat, have themselves been involved in multiple indirect tax disputes in recent years.
In January 2024, the Gujarat GST authority passed an order upholding a tax demand of Rs 173.9 crore, along with a Rs 17.4 crore penalty, against Suzuki Motor Gujarat over reverse charge GST liability on certain services for the period from July 2017 to August 2022.
In October 2024, the Haryana GST Commissioner (Appeals) also upheld a Rs 139.3 crore tax demand against MSIL for the same period.
The carmaker has also been contesting Customs-related notices and other state GST matters.
Impact of GST 2.0 and Future Reforms
Roy, in his speech at the conference, credited recent reforms under "GST 2.0", particularly the decision to maintain a uniform tax rate for auto parts, with lifting demand without creating supply-side bottlenecks.
"The industry per se has grown by 25 per cent, which itself speaks to the impact of the new reform," he said, while urging the government to introduce a similar single-rate structure for Customs duties.
