Thaindian News

Kolkata, Nov 15 (IANS) Observing that West Bengal had a low tax compliance rate, state Finance Minister Amit Mitra Tuesday urged the business community to cooperate with the government in tax collection and also warned of action for noncompliance.

“As per an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report, the state’s tax to gross state domestic product (GSDP) ratio is just 4.1 which makes it lag behind other states. We have simplified the tax administration and urge the business community to cooperate the government in tax compliance,” he said.

“We aim to achieve 13.9 percent GSDP (gross state domestic product) growth. We have made several reforms and simplified the tax structure. If we do not get a response from you, then we will have to go for enforcement. Without your cooperation it is difficult to achieve the desired growth rate,” said Mitra.

The minister, who was speaking at an event on tax reforms organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here, enumerated the major reforms undertaken by the government for simplification of tax laws.

Among the reforms, a settlement scheme has been introduced to provide dealers an opportunity to settle their outstanding dues by payment of only 25 percent of the demand along with 5 percent of the accumulated interest.

Deemed assessment has also been brought in, under which a dealer who has filed his return and paid the requisite taxes shall be deemed to have been assessed for the year.

The minimum requirement of 75 percent of export sales, for pre-assessment refund has been reduced to 50 percent to enable dealers to take advantage of the pre-assessment refund.

Value added tax (VAT) registration has been made online and the certificates have been dematerialised. Provisions for fast tracking pending tax cases have also been made.