Tata Sons may have to soon shell out around Rs 1,600 crore to comply with the 18 percent goods and services tax on the payment of $1.2 billion it made to NTT Docomo, a Japanese telco, Financial Express reported.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is currently looking into the case and checking if the GST provisions can be invoked for the transaction that took place a year ago, sources told the paper.

People familiar with the matter told ET that since NTT Docomo is a foreign entity, the tax liability can fall on Tata Group as the liability is reversed from the supplier of service to the recipient.

The tax department has begun the investigation, the report said, after it got the approval from finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia.