Firm Linked To Rahul Gandhi’s Brother-In-Law Robert Vadra Gets I-T Notice For Tax Evasion, Asked To Pay Rs 25 Crore

Sky Light Hospitality, a Delhi-based firm of Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law Robert Vadra, has been served a notice by the Income Tax (I-T) department for tax evasion, India Today has said in a report.

According to the portal, Sky Light Hospitality has been asked to pay Rs 25.8 crore in tax for the assessment year 2010-11. A report prepared by the I-T Department says the assessment of the 2010-11 income of the firm shows that the actual income of the company for that year was nearly Rs 43 crore. The firm, however, had shown that its income in the given year was as low as Rs 37 lakh. Tax payable on this revised income has been determined to be Rs 25.8 crore.

"Vadra's firms are into buying and selling of land which is a pure business decision. But his tax declarations showed that these are long term investments he had made. While the former attracts a 30 per cent tax, the latter gets the benefit of indexation (of the property) as well as long term capital gains which is not more than 20 per cent. Now he will have to pay the difference which works out to Rs 25 crore including interest for the past seven years," a tax department official was quoted as saying.

"There is no tax on capital gains on the sale of agricultural land if it is 8 km away from the urban limits of a city", the official added.

Earlier this year, a petition filed by the firm challenging the re-assessment was dismissed by the Supreme Court. The Delhi High Court had also dismissed a similar petition filed by the firm earlier.

The re-assessment notice was issued against Sky Light Hospitality in connection with a land deal with the DLF group. According to the India Today report, in one of such land deal, Vadra bought a property in Mauja Shikohpur near Manesar in Haryana for Rs 7.9 crore and sold it for Rs 58 crore to DLF Hospitality.