Date:25/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/25/stories/2008112556110200.htm

Tamil Nadu

Opportunity for settlement of commercial tax arrears

Staff Reporter

KARUR: Traders and dealers could make use of the opportunity the Commercial Taxes Department is offering towards settlement of long-pending arrears in payment of taxes and fines, said Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes K. Kaliamurthy.

Speaking at a meeting of the dealers and traders who have been identified as potential beneficiaries of the settlement of arrears convened here on Monday Mr. Kaliamurthy said that the State Government had taken two important measures to settle long-pending arrears from the dealers.

Through Government Order No. 88/CT&RD/dated 10.10.2008 the State Government has written off long pending arrears amounting to Rs. 98.71 crores pertaining to the period between 1915-52 and 1990-91 subject to certain conditions including absence of any review petition lying before any competent authority and the defaulter should have stopped business prior to April 1, 2002. Secondly, the State Government promulgated the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Arrears) Ordinance 2008 for settlement of arrears and pertaining to tax, surcharge, additional sales tax, penalty and interest prior to April 1, 2002. Through the Ordinance the State Government has waived Rs. 711.36 crore of arrears pending collection in the Commercial Taxes Department.

Mr. Kaliamurthy pointed out that the packages provided for liberalized waiver of tax, penalty and interest. The open-ended scheme and all cases whether contested or not were eligible for waiver, save for those cases under legal scrutiny.

As far as Karur was concerned, defaulting dealers and traders in 82 cases were to benefit to an extend of Rs. 8.73 crore and in case of waiver scheme a total of 49 cases involving a sum of Rs. 3.98 crore would benefit, Mr. Kaliamurthy added.

The Help Desk in Karur Commercial Tax District could be accessed through phone no. 04324-231450.

Mr. Kaliamurthy requested the potential beneficiaries to submit their applications in the prescribed from to the Joint Commissioner (CT), Tiruchi, by January 31, 2009.