The Tamil Nadu Commercial Taxes Department organised a “Peace Plan 2023 Awareness and Project Briefing Meeting” for traders from Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode and Salem districts, and Hosur region, who wished to engage in discussions regarding the State government’s ‘Samadhan Scheme’ which aims to help traders settle their commercial tax dues, penalty and interest.
The event was attended by Minister for Commercial Tax and Registration P. Moorthy. “This scheme is the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu and will benefit around 25,000 small traders from the four districts and Hosur region,” the Minister said.
As per the scheme, traders whose dues were below ₹50,000, including taxes, interest and penalty, were eligible for a complete waiver. However, with five different category of arrears ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹10 crore, the scheme also covered medium and large enterprises that had not paid their dues. “All kinds of traders will benefit from the scheme, but the sum written off differs for each category, ensuring that no unfair advantage is given to bigger traders,” Mr. Moorthy said.
However, traders gathered at the event raised concerns that those who had paid their dues before the announcement of the scheme would not be eligible for the waive off and they should be refunded a percentage of the tax paid. A few others raised an issue with the GST compensation dues being paid by the Centre to the States. “GST is decided by the Centre. But through this scheme, the State government is hoping to provide relief to traders,” the Minister said.