By Nikunj Ohri, Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah
New Delhi (Reuters) – India has accused the Kia in South Korea of ​​avoiding taxes of $ 155 million by wrongly classifying the import of components, but the car manufacturer has denied misconduct, the last fight by a foreign car maker with New Delhi over Rates, according to a document and two sources.
Kia competes with Hyundai and Maruti Suzuki in the third largest car market in the world, where it has a 6% share of around 4 million units per year, and Kia Seltos and Sonet SUVs are among the top sellers.
Foreign companies in India are confronted with headache of high taxes and long -term examinations.
Tesla, for example, publicly complained about high taxes on imported EVs and Volkswagen last week due to a requirement of a record of $ 1.4 billion in arrears that called it “impossible enormously”.
In April 2024, tax officers sent a confidential notification to the Indian unit of Kia, whereby the alleged tax evasion of 13.5 billion rupees was marked, according to a government report that Reuters reports for the first time.
The violation was aimed at an incorrect explanation of the import of components for the assembly of the luxury carnival -mini -mini -manufacturer, according to the notification.
In a statement to Reuters, Kia India said that it “made a detailed answer, supported by extensive evidence and documentation to” substantiate his position and the authorities were still revising the case.
Kia India strives to meet all regulations and has “consistently collaborated with” authorities, it added.
The Ministry of Finance and Customs Officers of India did not respond to questions from Reuters.
In its notification of 432 pages, the government said that the tax authorities were imported by Kia’s carnival “car model into parts or components in individual plots” via different ports, with the “intention to discharge less customseduty”.
Kia came up with the strategy to ensure that the import “could not be detected by customs”, added it, published by a customs commissioner in the southern city of Chennai.
Two sources said that Kia’s case was comparable to that of Volkswagen, accused of avoiding a higher load of 30% to 35% applicable to parts imported into “fully brought down” or CKD form in a single shipping, instead Instead, individual parts will send for days for days, so that they are sent in days, they are eligible for a tax rate of only 10% to 15%.
During the research, the Kia website showed the carnival model that was sold in India as in the form of “CKD”, with the retail trade of 9,887 units between 2020 and 2022, according to the tax report.