Traders want VAT cases till December 31 to be taken under OTS

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 2

One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme for VAT dues was unveiled recently, and active Jalandhar traders were the reason behind the success as it was after scores of meetings and plethora of requests, that one-time settlement (OTS) scheme had come.

Now that the government has extended the last date for filing of application for settlement of unpaid taxes till June 30, the traders said only the cases from 2013-2014 have been covered under the scheme, which is not justified. They have demanded that the cases till December 31, 2020 to be taken under the scheme.

Ravinder Dhir, convener of the Khel Udyog Sangh, who had been going to Chandigarh and holding meetings with the ministers to convince them to release notification of the policy also demanded increase in the slab of tax from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh so that it could benefit maximum number of traders and industrialists.

“With this policy, the traders having tax demand of up to Rs 1 lakh will only have to pay 10 per cent of the tax demand and thus the policy is good for them. But those above it, i.e., those who have tax demand above Rs 1 lakh will just be relieved from paying interest penalty, but will have to pay full tax,” he said, adding, that there is a demand from the government that they increase the slab as above 90% of the traders will get relief.

“It will definitely be beneficial for most of the traders, but those who have tax demand above Rs 1 lakh will not be benefited much,” he said.

The traders had also thanked MLA Rajinder Beri who was the only one to always visit along with the traders and put pressure on the government to unveil the policy.

Industry Minister Sham Sunder Arora had termed it as a ‘historic step’ to give much-needed relief to the industrialists. He said the scheme would benefit almost 10,000 small and medium scale businessmen of the Doaba region.