Gensol Didn't Deposit TDS, Staff in Double Tax Trouble

Gensol Group companies deducted tax from employee salaries before going belly-up, but didn't deposit the tax deducted at source (TDS) with authorities for a year, four former executives who are aware of the matter said.

- Nehal Chaliawala

That leaves about 2,200 former employees of the group in a situation where they might have to pay the taxes again, this time to the Income Tax department, as Indian law holds the employee liable for paying tax even where the employer is at fault, despite multiple court orders to the contrary.

The group companies have not paid any salaries since March 2025, the former executives said on the condition of anonymity as they did not want to be publicly associated with the beleaguered group.

Gensol Engineering and BluSmart Mobility went bankrupt amid charges of promoters siphoning crores of rupees and misleading investors, and are separately undergoing corporate insolvency under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

"They have not paid TDS since April 2024. I haven't filed my tax return yet. I don't know what to do," said one of the executives who quit months before the company went down.

This executive added that employees have not received their Form 16 for the previous fiscal, which puts them in a spot over filing returns even as the 15 September deadline approaches. Form 16 is a certificate of TDS provided by the employer that helps employees reconcile tax deductions, and is an essential document for filing tax returns.