In order to enhance revenue collections in the last month of this fiscal year, the Department of Trade and Taxes of the Delhi Government has sealed famous Heel & Buckle showroom at the Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj in South Delhi for violation of Value Added Tax (VAT). The Heel & Buckle is a well-known footwear and leather accessories showroom in the area.
Top sources told The Pioneer that the Department of Trade & Taxes officials have raided Heel & Buckle and found them defaulters of Rs15 lakh for violation of VAT in the current fiscal. Strangely, the promoter of Heel & Buckle has shown zero taxation and did not file VAT to the department.
According to officials, when they visited the shop at Ambience Mall, they found a large number of customers there and other shop owners also confirmed that the business of Heel & Buckle was flourishing. The department slapped a notice for defaulting VAT to the tune of Rs15 lakh for the current fiscal and sealed the shop. According to the VAT Department officials, they were not filing returns for the past several years and were misleading the department by showing zero return.
The department was finding difficult to meet the revised target of Rs19,000 crore in the current fiscal. They have collected only Rs16,700 crore till February end. To encourage traders to pay taxes, the department is planning to give incentive to them so that they could pay their taxes every year on time.
As per VAT data, the department collects 70 per cent of the revenue from 1,184 traders, while 17 per cent revenue is collected from 9,270 small traders. The decline in collection of VAT is an area of concern for the Arvind Kejriwal Government. The Government has taken several steps to boost revenue collection but it has failed to meet the target in the current fiscal, which ends this month.