Jittery over the show-cause notices being issued by State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) department for value added tax (VAT) assessments as old as those from financial year 2016-17, the businessmen have asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann and finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema to intervene.
The city industrialists rue that most of them can no longer produce the required C-forms for FY 2016-17, which could lead to heavy penalties from the department.
In this regard, the Fastener Suppliers’ Association of Ludhiana has also shot off a letter to the CM, urging him to take action.
Association president Rajkumar Singla said, “Thousands of show cause notices under section 60 and 61 of Punjab VAT Act have been issued to industrialists of Ludhiana by the SGST department. As per these notices, we are being asked to appear before senior officials along with huge cache of documents including books of accounts, original purchase invoices, sale invoices and declaration forms etc. In case we fail to do so, huge penalty and tax will be imposed on us.”
The businessmen have urged the government to bring in one time settlement (OTS) scheme to save them from the penalties.
Atul Saggar, general secretary of Apparel Manufacturers’ Association of Ludhiana said, “VAT assessment and show casue notices are giving sleepless nights to the businessmen because 90% of them do not have the statutory forms, especially C-forms pertaining to FY 2016-17. In wake of this, no one will be able to complete their VAT assessments and as a result will have to face action from the SGST department. We urge the finance minister and the CM to introduce an unconditional OTS scheme for settling all VAT assessment cases on an urgent basis, or else businessmen will suffer huge financial blow.”
Under OTS, the businessmen have also asked to charge only nominal fee for the pending assessments.
A city based bicycle and parts manufacturer, Ajay Sehgal said, “OTS should be introduced, in which one time charges should be fixed for all the VAT cases.”
Besides, he demanded that for micro, small and medium enterprises, the maximum ceiling for VAT assessment of all pending years under the OTS should be kept at Rs 2,500.