Commercial Taxes Minister T. Srinivas Yadav has said that the Telangana government was actively considering increasing the value added tax (VAT) on gold from the present one per cent to five as a lot of tax evasion was detected in bullion market.
Talking to media persons on Thursday, Mr. Yadav said it was found that the turnover of gold jewellery and diamond merchants was huge, but the same was not reflected in their tax returns. They suppressed income which was a huge revenue loss to the government as it did not get taxes.
The same was the case with corporate hospitals which billed patients in lakhs of rupees, but returned smaller income to avoid taxes. The government will step up vigil on the hospitals, he added.
Mr. Yadav also said the government was continuing raids on businessmen with the objective to detect “zero business” (tax evasion) and the efforts yielded good results as the additional revenue in tax collection realised this year was to an extent of Rs. 300 crore. They will go on but no one would be harassed if taxes were paid properly.
The government has also aimed at strengthening integrated check-posts after studying the models in Maharashtra and Gujarat. It will create an informant network like in police for intelligence gathering on tax evasion. Trade in Begum Bazar, Siddiamber Bazar and Charminar will be closely monitored. Senior officers of commercial taxes will be instructed to take up field visits at least once a month, he added.
As Minister for Cinematography, Mr. Yadav said he proposed to hold a meeting with leaders of film industry to discuss development of the industry in Telangana. With a production of 200 films annually, Tollywood was next only to Bollywood. A meeting earlier proposed on February 24 was cancelled due to the death of producer-director Ramanaidu.
It is found that the turnover of gold and diamond merchants is huge, but the same was not reflected in their tax returns
– T. Srinivas Yadav
Commercial Taxes Minister