In a bid to provide relief to thousands of taxpayers, especially small shopkeepers, entrepreneurs and traders, Haryana Government on Sunday launched ‘One Time Settlement Scheme-2025’ in the Excise and Taxation department. Launching the OTS Scheme, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said that a transparent and equitable taxation system is essential for economic prosperity and good governance in the state. “If the tax system is simple and effective, the traders, entrepreneurs and investors benefit and economic activities grow rapidly,” he said.
Saini, addressing the gathering in Kurukshetra, said that the OTS Scheme-2025 will give an opportunity to taxpayers to make a new beginning by freeing them from the old financial burden. “This scheme is for those taxpayers of Haryana who could not pay the outstanding amount of their taxes due to various reasons. Under this scheme, taxpayers – with dues up to Rs 10 lakh – will get a rebate of up to Rs one lakh. This scheme will remain open for the coming 180 days, that is six months,” said Saini, while appealing to the taxpayers to pay their dues as soon as possible.
He said that the State government had started a dispute resolution programme to solve the problems of people of all sections, under which various departments started schemes with different names. The One Time Settlement Scheme-2025 is also a part of the same series.
“The Excise and Taxation Department was facing great difficulty in recovering outstanding taxes due to various reasons. Therefore, we implemented the OTS Scheme to reduce the outstanding taxes and litigation and expedite the recovery of outstanding amounts. While implementing this scheme will provide relief to taxpayers, it will also increase revenue collection,” he added.
He said that earlier also, an OTS scheme was introduced in 2023, but there were some obstacles in that scheme. “Those obstacles have been removed in the new scheme. There is no classification of outstanding tax in OTS Scheme-2025, and will be based on the cumulative assessed outstanding amount. Under it, there will be complete exemption from penalty amount and interest amount,” he said.
Saini said in this scheme, the government has created three slabs. For payment of cumulative assessed outstanding tax up to Rs 10 lakh, the taxpayer will have to pay 40 percent of the amount after deducting the exemption of up to Rs one lakh from Rs 10 lakh. For cumulative assessed outstanding tax liabilities of more than Rs 10 lakh and up to Rs 10 crore, the taxpayer will have to pay 50 per cent of the amount. Similarly, the taxpayer will have to pay 100 per cent of the cumulative assessed outstanding tax liabilities of more than Rs 10 crore.
Not only this, taxpayers with settlement amount of more than Rs 10 lakh outstanding tax have been given the option to make payment in two installments.
New Initiatives Taken in GST Rules
Saini said that some new initiatives have been taken in the GST rules. “Now, for the convenience of taxpayers, audits of last three to four years to be done under Section 65 of Haryana GST Act, 2017, will be done in one go. Due to this, traders will not have to visit the department again and again. Similarly, to increase transparency, the government has decided to install CCTV cameras in every ETO and DETC office rooms,” he said.
He said that other suggestions received include GST exemption on agricultural equipment, automation of GST refund, annual self-assessment instead of monthly and increasing the limit of issuing bills from Rs five to Rs 10 crore. Haryana Government will recommend these suggestions to the GST Council, he said.
“For the convenience of traders and taxpayers, a Tax Bhawan has been constructed in Rewari at a cost of Rs 29 crore. GST Facilitation Centres have been started in all 27 GST offices at a cost of Rs 29 crore. Similarly, a Startup GST Facilitation Cell has been started in Gurugram and MSME GST Cell in Panchkula,” he added.
Govt increased arthiyas' commission on paddy purchase from Rs 46/quintal to Rs 55
Saini said that the government has increased the arthiyas’ (commission agents’) commission on the purchase of paddy from Rs 46 to Rs 55 per quintal. So far, an amount of Rs 309 crore has been released to the commission agents.
“During Kharif 2024-25 in the state, all the rice millers have been given a bonus of over Rs 62 crore as incentive till August 31, 2024, for custom milled rice delivery in the state,” he said. Similarly, the revised ‘Mukhyamantri Vyapari Kshatipurti Yojana’ has been started to compensate for the loss of life and property of traders in natural disasters.
Under the 'Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maandhan Yojana', monthly pension has been ensured for retailers and shopkeepers. For the welfare of small and medium traders, they have been brought under the MSME Department.
