With commercial tax dues to the State government touching ₹25,000 crore, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday announced a Samadhan Scheme to help traders settle their dues, penalty and interest.
The scheme will be in force between October 16, 2023 and February 15, 2024. The government has come out with different payment options for five categories of traders, depending on the size of their dues.
Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, Mr. Stalin said over 2.11 lakh cases involving over 2.41 lakh traders and commercial establishments were pending in court.
“The cases have become a burden on officials, and have caused hardship to traders and financial loss to the government,” he said, explaining the reason for coming up with the scheme.
As per the scheme, traders whose dues are below ₹50,000, including taxes, interest and penalty, are eligible for a complete waiver.
“This is the first time in Tamil Nadu that the taxes to be paid by small traders are fully waived. A total of 95,502 small traders will benefit from the scheme,“ he said.
Other traders are divided into four categories.
Traders whose dues are between ₹50,000 and ₹10 lakh need to pay a flat 20% of their dues in a single instalment. Those who have accepted the tax assessment could pay 66% of their dues, 10% interest and 10% penalty. Traders who have gone on appeal or filed cases can get them settled by paying 33% of their dues, 10% interest and 10% penalty. If they have no tax dues, but have penalty and interest dues, they can avail themselves of the scheme by paying 10% interest and 10% penalty. This payment option is also applicable to the category of traders whose dues are in the ₹10 lakh to ₹1 crore range. But they are not eligible for the flat rate of payment.
There is a different payment option for traders whose dues are between ₹1 crore and ₹10 crore. Those who have accepted the tax assessment can pay 75% of their dues, 15% penalty and 20% interest. Traders who have filed an appeal have been given the option of paying 50% of their dues, 20% interest and 15% penalty. If the traders had already paid the tax but not the penalty and interest, they can settle it by paying 15% penalty and 20% interest.
In the case of traders whose dues are more than ₹10 crore, they have to pay 90% of their dues, 15% penalty and 30% interest if they have accepted the tax assessment. Traders who have gone on appeal or filed cases could settle them by paying 60% of their dues, 15% penalty and 30% interest. If they have no tax dues but have penalty and interest dues, they need to pay only 30% interest and 15% penalty.
The Chief Minister said that as a special offer, the interest accrued by the traders till they pay their dues will be waived.
