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Review of VAT provisions urged

Staff Reporter

`Traders are being harassed'

NEW DELHI: The All-India Tax Advocates Forum has charged that the Value Added Tax authorities were issuing default assessment against several traders without given them even a notice or having discussions with the alleged defaulters in total violation of the principles of natural justice.

The Forum president, M.K. Gandhi, said in a statement that the Delhi Government was causing avoidable difficulties and harassment to traders, small and big alike, ignoring the fact that they contribute immensely to its revenue under the new VAT regime.

The tax advocate said even for minor errors in VAT returns, the traders were being summarily penalised under Section 86 of the VAT Act. "This is not only arbitrary but defies all norms of justice,'' he alleged.

Mr. Gandhi said dealers with over Rs.5 crores turnover were being forced to submit monthly returns leading to escalation of their overheads by way of clerical back up and repeat visits to VAT offices. "Why does the Government not seek quarterly assessment returns that would save time and prevent rush at VAT offices besides streamlining work ethics,'' said Mr. Gandhi.

Pitching for review of the penal provisions of the new VAT law, the Forum has stated that oppressive penal provisions as found in Delhi do not exist in any of the similar laws in either States or Union Territories across the country. It has therefore urged the Delhi Government to create an atmosphere of trust and fair play among the trading community that forms the base of its revenue generation.

Simultaneously, the Forum has also demanded that VAT authorities must take the traders into confidence for streamlining the new VAT system.

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