Food delivery major Zomato has initiated income tax return (ITR) filings for its delivery partners to facilitate the refunds on their 1% tax deducted at source (TDS).
Over 1 lakh riders have already filed for Income Tax Returns on the Zomato Delivery Partner app within 48 hours as shared by the cofounder Deepinder Goyal on X. He further revealed that the food-tech giant had made payments worth Rs 4,000 crore last year to its delivery partners, which accounted for Rs 40 crore as TDS. The 1% TDS at delivery partner payout is a government mandate.
Of recent developments for the Gurugram-based platform, Goyal made it to the billionaire club. Goyal’s shares amount to 36.95 crore, estimated to be worth Rs 8,400 crore or $1 billion as Zomato’s shares hit the Rs 230 mark on July 15. In the March quarter of FY24, its average monthly active delivery partners numbered 418,000.
Zomato had earlier received a GST demand notice in Karnataka worth Rs 5 crore including Rs 3.93 crore in interest and Rs 50.2 lakh as penalties. Additionally, Motilal Oswal sold its 2.6 crore shares in Zomato worth Rs 645 crore in a block deal. The company also hiked the platform fee to Rs 6 per order in Delhi and Bengaluru.
While the TDS collection would be an income to the state’s exchequer, the ITR filing is set to benefit the delivery partners. Goyal commented, “With this initiative, most of our delivery partners will be filing taxes for the first time in their lives, which should make their lives easier in the long run – for example – they will be able to get access to structured credit, they will qualify for scholarships for their kids at various educational institutions, etc.”
