Back taxes that Nokia owes the government of India could thwart the proposed $7.2 billion acquisition of the company’s handset business by Microsoft, scheduled for early 2014. Experts expect the tax liability could thwart the acquisition as some of Nokia’s assets in India, including a large facility that makes handsets, are frozen as well as concerns the liabilities could be passed on and assessed against Microsoft. Nokia has reportedly offered to pay the Indian government $400 million to unfreeze its assets. Nokia, which says it has already paid €85 million ($116.7 million) of its tax liability, claims the Indian government served it in March 2013 with a bill for 20.8 billion rupees ($330 million) covering five fiscal years. However, India’s tax department has claimed at various times that Nokia owes 78 billion rupees ($1.25 billion) or more than 210 billion rupees ($3.38 billion). (SlashDot)(Reuters)(The New York Times)
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Nokia-Microsoft Deal Jeopardized by Billion-Dollar Indian Tax Bill
