Urging members of trade and industry to switch to cashless payment modes, Principal Secretary, Commercial Tax and Excise, Somesh Kumar sought to allay apprehensions of them coming under the scanner if they report more business.
Assuring them that they would not be punished for recording more business via the electronic payment modes, he said only 42 per cent of VAT (value added tax) dealers in the State had machines on which credit/debit cards could be used. The government wanted this number to increase and was keen on making everyone embrace cashless transactions.
Mr. Kumar was addressing a workshop on ‘goods and services tax portal and model GST law,’ organised by the Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry in association with the Commercial Taxes Department, here on Monday.
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He said the State government remains committed to GST. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was keen on providing a policy environment in which traders, manufacturers and service providers would flourish. The GST regime, which was expected to come into force by September 2017, if it misses the April deadline, would remove the discretion available with officials. The whole process over time would be technology driven, he added.
The Principal Secretary also underscored the need to find an amicable solution to the 4,500-odd cases pending before courts and tribunals, with the disputed tax amount of around Rs. 4,000 crore, before migrating to the GST. The government wanted to introduce an amnesty scheme that would help resolve the cases in a time bound manner.