The finance ministry has issued summons to about dozens of insurance companies seeking documents pertaining to sale of insurance policies and commission paid to their field associates as part of its probe into alleged service tax evasion of over Rs 300 crores by insurers.
Firms like ICICI Prudential, HDFC Standard Life, MetLife, Birla Sun Life and Reliance Life among others have been issued summons by Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), an intelligence arm under the Finance ministry.
The notices have been sent under Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944. This section empowers a central excise officer to summon any person whose attendance he considers necessary either to give evidence or to produce a document or any other thing in inquiry being undertaken by the officer.
Preliminary probe so far has found alleged irregularities including evasion of service tax by misrepresenting the information on accounts book and fudging records related to commission paid to field associates, agents and brokers who were selling the insurance policies.
No comments:
Post a Comment