WIn 2014-15 the West Bengal government collected commercial tax worth ₹27,755 crore, showing a collection growth of around 10 per cent over the previous year.
Vinod Kumar, Commissioner, West Bengal Directorate of Commercial Taxes, told reporters on Tuesday that the government is hopeful of expanding its net this fiscal and increase the collection further through the amnesty scheme for roping in unregistered business establishments for VAT liability.
After an event at Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Vinod Kumar said significant number of enquiries proved the scheme, which would end on July 31, could raise awareness about the benefits among the local business community.
”We are getting lot of enquires but not sure about how many business entities had actually availed the scheme so far,” the commissioner said.
“The scheme does not charge any penalty for past VAT liabilities for non-registration. It also relies on returns submitted by the registering assesses. It only charges a flat 2 per cent tax on turnovers declared by the registering entity in the previous years,” he explained.
Considering the “harsh” and retrospective penalties for not registering under the VAT Act (which can go up to a maximum of 14.5 per cent), this provides a window of opportunity for business entities.