'Legitimate tax claim is not tax terrorism'

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that legitimate tax demands from various governmental authorities should not be misconstrued as tax terrorism. 

Talking at an industry event, Jaitley said India was no tax haven but legitimate tax demanded from foreign investors must be paid. 

In his budget speech last fiscal, Jaitley announced that foreign institutional investors will not have to pay any Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT). 

However, previous years MAT must be paid. 

This came at the backdrop of Tax Department sending out notices to foreign institutional investors (FIIs) to cough up nearly $6 billion in MAT for gains made over the past few years. 

Also Read: India sends out nearly $6-billion worth of tax notices to foreign funds

The tax demand could go up to $10 billion as the Tax Department is still assessing many more cases.