New Delhi, June 17: The Directorate-General of Goods & Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has issued a Rs 2,050-crore service tax notice to India’s largest insurance company, the Life Insurance Corporation of India for non-payment of service tax on forfeited policies since July 2012.

According to a report by TOI, the tax officials informed that the notice was issued by the DGGI's Kolkata zonal office for alleged "suppression of facts with intent to evade payment of service tax" on forfeited policies (policies discontinued because of non-payment of premium).

The report further informs that the LIC has admitted getting the DGGI notice but added that they had replied to the notice and there was no suppression of facts. "We have already replied to the notice, presenting our side. We have provided, through documents and depositions, every piece of information sought by the DGGI”, the LIC said.

According to GST experts, the Kolkata DGGI notice can become a precedent in an industry that has 23 life insurance companies besides LIC. In its statement to the TOI, LIC said as one of the highest tax-paying institutions in the country. “We would like to categorically state that, on our part, neither is there any suppression of facts nor any intention to evade tax”, it said.

According to the IRDAI data, the new premium collection of life insurance companies rose by nearly 9 per cent to Rs 12,838.24 crore in May compared to the same month last year. All the 24 life insurers had written new gross premium of Rs 11,801.01 crore in May 2017.

According to a PTI report, a new business premium of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) expanded by 9.49 per cent to Rs 9,204.88 crore in May against Rs 8,406.76 crore in May 2017, the data released today showed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2018 11:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).