Former Byju’s staff get I-T notices for ‘unpaid’ TDS – Times of India

BENGALURU: The income tax department has been sending notices of unpaid TDS (tax deducted at source) to former employees of edtech firm Byju’s over the last 10 days.
Several employees have confirmed to TOI about receiving these notices through email and courier. ” I am sure over 6,000 former or current employees have got this demand notice just as I have,” one former employee, Kaushik Kumar Lade, told TOI.Kaushik was a senior manager of sales at the startup. TOI has reviewed some of these demand notices, which pertain to the tax amount deducted by the employer from the taxpayer and deposited to the income tax department. Lade said, “I wrote to the HR department as well as the management by email about this notice. They responded after about 48 hours saying they are working on it and will clear the payments out as soon as possible.”

Non-deposit of tax and provident fund deductions from employees is a serious offence under Indian laws. While tax authorities can take action against the company for these violations, employees have to face consequences when it comes to TDS. In the past, employees of grounded Kingfisher Airlines faced a double whammy when they did not get their dues and had to also contend with the claims of the tax department. There have, however, been legal pronouncements saying that employees should not be penalised.
Many Byju’s employees have reached out to the company for clarity on the matter, with one employee anonymously expressing, “We are not sure how and where this notice leads and our liability around it. Some clarity on this will help us all.”
The company, currently undergoing an insolvency process, did not respond to request for comment. Pankaj Srivastava, the National Company Law Tribunal-appointed resolution professional responsible for inviting lenders, employees, vendors, and govt to claim unpaid dues, also did not respond to queries till the time of going to press.
As of Aug 30, govt had registered claims amounting to $101 million with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. Earlier this year, a group of Byju’s employees had taken legal action against the struggling company. TOI had reported that 62 employees issued a demand notice seeking payment of overdue salaries amounting to more than Rs 2.3 crore. According to the report, these salaries have been outstanding since Jan 2024, highlighting the severity of the company’s financial woes.