IT Dept may tax over 380 firms under scrutiny for merger and acquisition deals in FY'08

Having scrutinised more than 380 merger and acquisition deals from 2007-08, the Income Tax department is expected to soon slap entities concerned with notices for tax totalling several crores of rupees.

Although the scrutiny has been on for a couple of years now, the department must raise tax demands or else the cases will get barred by time this year under the provisions of the I-T Act, sources said.

The multi-million dollar deals involving overseas mergers, acquisitions and infusion of private equity into Indian companies pertain to fiscal 2007-2008 for which December 31 is the last day for scrutiny, assessment and raising of tax demand, a top source in the I-T department said.

While some deals among these 386 have already been dealt with, a number of deals struck during that period will be sent tax notices.