The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has received a Goods and Services Tax (GST) demand, which includes interest and penalties, amounting to over Rs 290 crore from Bihar state tax officials.
In a filing dated 22 September, LIC announced its intention to appeal the decision before the GST Appellate Tribunal. The tax demand itself stands at over Rs 166.75 crore, with interest totaling over Rs 107.05 crore, and a penalty of Rs 16.67 crore, resulting in a total of Rs 2,90,49,22,609.
The exchange filing clarified that LIC received this order under Section-73(9) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax (BGST) and Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act 2017 from the Bihar Additional Commissioner State Tax (Appeal), Central Division, Patna, on 21 September.
The order cited the violation as the "non-reversal of the Input Tax Credit (ITC) availed and utilised on the item non-leviable to GST on the portion of the premium received by the corporation from the policyholder, and the non-reversal of the ITC of the portion of the agents' commission on the item non-leviable to GST on the portion of the premium and the exempted policies." LIC intends to file an appeal within the prescribed timelines against this order before the GST Appellate Tribunal.