A group of small companies have dragged the government to court over tax on license and spectrum fees in a time when telecom industries are embroiled in a crisis over paying AGR dues and Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund. A writ has been filed in Goa Bench of the Mumbai High Court challenging license fees charged to telecom, mining companies and casinos. In the writ petition, the companies are challenging a circular issued under GST framework that provides for levying GST on license fees received by the government. “The Circular proceeds to impose tax on license fees paid to the government for its sovereign function without appropriate statutory backing and will have far reaching consequences for different sectors who pay such licence fees to the Government”, said Abhishek A Rastogi, partner at Khaitan & Co, who is arguing for the petitioners. The telecom companies that are already facing financial stress has sought that the government adjusts GST refunds of around Rs 8,000 crore against its AGR dues.
