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News from Tamil Nadu
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Settlement of arrears of tax,
interest and penalty
The Governor of Tamil Nadu
promulgated an Ordinance No. 7 of 2008 on 7th October 2008, whereby the
provisions have been made for settlement of arrears of tax, interest and
penalty, arising out of the assessments for the periods prior to 1st April 2002.
As mentioned in the Explanatory statement, heavy amount of revenue was
outstanding for quite long time and therefore a more liberalised settlement
scheme was being announced for arrears arising out of the period mentioned
hereinabove. One of the conditions for such settlement, however, is that the
assessee’s appeal or revision that may be pending have to be treated as
withdrawn from the date of filing the application for settlement.
Source : The Tamil Nadu
Commercial Tax Journal, Vol. 14 No. 7, October 2008, Page 47.
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Decision of writing off of the
outstanding dues
By Government Order dated 10th
October 2008, the Finance Department of the State of Tamil Nadu have proposed to
write off the arrears of demands to the tune of approximately Rs. 98.77 crores
relating to the old periods from 1951-52 to 1990-91 under various enactments,
that were in force from time to time. Such an action, however, of writing off
the arrears was provided to be done only when no appeal or other proceedings in
any court or forum was pending and the defaulter in question did not possess any
immovable property that was attached for recovery of arrears and the business of
the defaulter was discontinued prior to 1st April 2002.
Source : The Tamil Nadu
Commercial Tax Journal, Vol. 14 No. 7, October 2008, Page 59.
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Authority for Clarification and
Advance Ruling
The Commissioner of Commercial
Taxes, Tamil Nadu State, has proposed to the Government, the establishment of a
statutory mechanism and an authority who would be responsible for giving
Clarification and Advance Ruling under the Tamil Nadu VAT Act.
Source : The Tamil Nadu
Commercial Tax Journal, Vol. 14 No. 7, October 2008, Page 66.
News from West Bengal
The Commissioner of Sales Tax,
through trade circular, explained the changes in the West Bengal Sales Tax Act,
1994 as well as West Bengal VAT Act, 2003 by the West Bengal Taxation Laws
(Amendment) Act, 2008. The highlight of the amendment relate to the levy of tax
on the resale of foreign liquor and provision of Voluntary Disclosure Scheme
under section 90B, with retrospective effect from 1st August, 2006. The
amendments also provide for the time or day when the assessment would be deemed
to have been made under section 47(1) of the VAT Act. That amendment also is
made effective from 1st April, 2005. By yet another important amendment in
section 84(1) of the VAT Act, it has been provided that if an appeal was not
disposed of before 31st December next following the expiry of one year from the
date of the presentation, such an appeal shall be deemed to have been disposed
of in accordance with the law and all the claims of the assessee made therein,
shall be deemed to have been allowed in full, subject to the power of the
Commissioner to extend the time only up to further six months.
This is a welcome amendment
that can be emulated by other States, so as to reduce the backlog of pending
litigations at various stages.
Source : Sales Tax Advices,
Vol. 52, No. 4, October 2008, Page No. 59.
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