LIC receives ₹6,146.71 crore income tax demand order for FY22; plans to appeal

Life Insurance Corporation of India has received a demand order from the Income Tax Department for the financial year 2021–22, including tax and interest, according to a regulatory disclosure dated March 25.The communication from the Assessment Unit of the Income Tax Department raises a demand for income tax amounting to ₹6,146.71 crore and interest of ₹953.25 crore, the insurer said in its filing.

The corporation said the order is appealable before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), indicating that it intends to challenge the assessment through the available legal process.
According to the disclosure, the tax demand arises from several disallowances and additions identified by the tax authority during the assessment process.
These include the addition of interim bonus as income, the addition of loss from the Jeevan Suraksha Fund as income, and the addition of negative reserves as income. The tax department has also disallowed deductions claimed under Section 80M and disallowed interest related to the late deposit of tax deducted at source (TDS).The insurer said the financial impact of the order is limited to the amount of income tax and interest specified in the demand. However, it added that there is no material impact on the operations or other activities of the corporation.

The disclosure was made under Regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements Regulations, 2015, which requires listed entities to inform exchanges about material developments.

LIC also said the intimation has been shared with the stock exchanges and made available on the corporation’s website.

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Shares of LIC ended at ₹779.60 on the NSE, up ₹20.90 or 2.75%, with the closing price recorded at ₹781.10, up ₹22.40 or 2.95%.