Time for settlement of dispute of VAT and entry tax extended

Kolkata: The state government has extended the time period of settlement of dispute of VAT and entry tax for three months till September end.

The move has been taken as economic slowdown due to the nationation wide lockdown to check spread of COVID-19, has left a deep impact on the settlement of the same. The last date for application of the same was earlier till June 30.

Considering the present situation, on Wednesday the state government has decided to extend it till September 30. "The last date of application for settlement of dispute has been extended for three months," said a state Finance department official.

With only a few days left for the last date to settle the disputes those are pending for years, a proposal was floated to extend the deadline for another three months after June 30.

According to the official, there are large section of willing traders who want to settle the dispute. But, cash flow is an important aspect that was claimed to be badly affected due to the nationwide lockdown.

In the third dispute settlement schemes that was in February after its success since 2017, taxpayers were allowed to settle disputes by depositing 25 per cent of the disputed tax. The percentage was 35 per cent for the scheme in 2019.

A calculation by an official reveals that settlement of dispute would lead to a generation of something around Rs 1,000 crore.

Close to 29,000 cases were settled till March 31 in 2019 and it led to a generation of arou d Rs 754 crore while in December 2018 there was a collection of disputed tax of around Rs 1,100 crores. Till February 2017, as many as 63,883 cases were settled.

"Though the response was good soon after the scheme has brought in again in February, but a silence in this regard prevailed over the same since the lockdown was imposed on March 25. Now requests from traders have been received and the proposal of extending the last date of settlement of disputes was under strong consideration of the department for the past few days.

Finally, on Wednesday a nod was given to extend the deadline," said an official. The official added that the norms are remaining same far is 25 percent of the dispute tax has to be deposited.

A large number of the dispute cases are pending in Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, revisional board under the department and different Courts.