Jammu- In a major relief to taxpayers, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday granted amnesty for the settlement of tax arrears pertaining to the pre-GST regime in the Union Territory.
The decision in this regard was taken by the Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, an official spokesperson said. The Finance Department had proposed the grand amnesty scheme.
“This step is going to provide relief to the taxpayers in the form of waiver of interest and penalty besides recovery of the blocked revenue to the Government,” the spokesperson said.
“Earlier all dealers could not take benefit of the erstwhile amnesty scheme issued vide Govt. order no. 39-FD of 2018 dated 05/02/2018 due to various reasons including Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.
As such, the spokesperson said, a large number of representations were received from the trade and industry sector for granting a one-time opportunity to the dealers for settlement of the outstanding arrears under the pre-GST tax legislations.
He said that the amnesty scheme provides relief to dealers by 100 per cent waiver of penalty and interest under Taxation acts for assessment/ reassessment up to 2017-18 for all and 2017 for liquor dealers, 100 percent waiver of penalty and interest under VAT 2005, and Central Sales Tax Act for assessments up to 2017-18.
It also gave waiver of interest and penalty to 100 per cent payment of principal tax in the manner and within the prescribed time as per the scheme, settlement of demands for Industrial Units under repealed VAT and other tax acts in respect of assessed, re-assessed demands, including yet to be assessed cases with certain conditions to be notified in the scheme.
“This decision on the part of the government will result in minimising tax dispute cases and winding up pre-GST cases etc. The time limit for receiving the applications for this amnesty will not be more than six months from the date an order is issued in this regard,” the spokesperson added.
Kashmir Inc Welcomes Move
The Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) and the Kashmir Trade Alliance (KTA) on Wednesday expressed gratitude to the J&K administration for settlement of assessed and reassessed demands raised against industrial units for the period under VAT regime.
In a statement, the President FCIK Shahid Kamili thanked the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and other members of the Administrative Council for considering the long pending demand of the organisation to provide clean slate to the industry for pre-GST regime during the period industrial units were exempted from payment of VAT under remission mechanism.
He said that the industrial units had been put to great inconvenience and trouble by irrational demands raised by assessing authorities against them through unilateral assessments and reassessments.
“Many of the cases had been referred to the recovery wing which had caused great stress to the already stressful entrepreneurs,” he said.
Kamili termed the amnesty as the first gift to the industry and trade from the incumbent Chief Secretary Atal Duloo with whom the authorized representatives of FCIK including Presidents of all industrial estates of the valley had taken up this vital issue in a marathon meeting last Friday. He hoped that, with the firm assurance given by the CS, all genuine demands made by FCIK in a comprehensive memorandum would get resolved soon.
The President FCIK has hoped that the guidelines issued under the amnesty will be simple and provided “clean slate” to the industry as was promised before transition into the GST regime.
“All the cases pertaining to VAT regime needs to be closed for the simple reason that industry would not charge any tax from their customers during this period under remission policy in vogue,” he added.
Whereas the amnesty granted today will likely settle all frivolous demands created against the MSMEs for Pre-GST regime, the FCIK has demanded for a strong recommendation from the J&K Government to the GST Council and Union Government for grant of amnesty for defaults of MSMEs in the GST regime mostly happening during the troubled period of reorganization and Covid restrictions.
Meanwhile, Kashmir Trade Alliance (KTA) has also conveyed its heartfelt gratitude to the LG-led dispensation for approving amnesty to settle assessed and reassessed demands against business establishments during the VAT regime.
“The approved amnesty provides a clean slate to the business community for the pre-GST regime, particularly during the period when businesses were exempted from VAT payments under the remission mechanism,” President KTP, Aijaz Shahdhar said in a statement.
Describing the amnesty as the first gift to the industry and trade, Shahdhar credited LG Sinha, Chief Secretary Atal Duloo for this positive development.
“The decision is expected to bring relief to Kashmir business fraternity that have been adversely affected by the burden of unfounded demands and assessments,” he said.