Amnesty Scheme to Sort More than 50% Pre-GST Dues in Bengal State

The Bengal State government introduced the amnesty scheme aimed at settling the taxes incurred in the pre-GST era i.e. under VAT, central sales tax and entry tax. The much similar phenomenon was seen in the Centre’s amnesty scheme namely ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ that got its recognition in the Union Budget introduced on 1 Feb 2020.

On Monday, the Bengal FM Amit Mitra through its state budget declared that more than 25,000 pending cases of pre-GST tax payments are still prevalent in the state. He further declares to propose a new and efficient scheme to settle all the past GST tax cases that are pending up to 31 January 2020 including the VAT, sales tax, central sales tax, and entry tax. Under the scheme, the taxpayers will get the chance to sort their pending tax cases by submitting 25% of the total amount of their disputed taxes by March 2020. 25% of the half of the disputed tax amount is required to be paid by the taxpayer as early as March 31, 2020, else the taxpayers will be bound to pay 30% of the disputed taxes in six monthly installments starting from April 2020.

More than 50% of the disputed tax cases are expected to be solved under the proposed GST amnesty scheme The Indian government is planning to launch a new scheme for GST returns non-filers and nil filers, called Amnesty Scheme. Get more details via this article. Read More. Most of them are legacy cases, said Arun Agarwal, chartered accountant and GST consultant. The scheme would prove to relieve the departmental officers who are right now stuck in these cases so that they can bring in some solidarity in the GST laws. Once such cases are settled the officers and assessees can altogether take care of their GST Issues Have a look at the major issues/problems being faced by Indian people after the GST roll-out. We have enlisted reports and research as collected from the several sectors, said Arun Agarwal.

Bengal State province was able to revive Rs. 1,120 Crore arrears as disputed tax from 30,000 taxpayers under the settlement scheme in 2018. Mitra declared to launch a settlement scheme soon catering to the tax certificate cases, waiver of 50 percent of compounding fine on motor vehicle offenses, waiver of penalty on outstanding motor vehicle dues, waiver of agricultural income tax on tea gardens and relief under Stamp Duty & Registration Act.