The Arvind Kejriwal Government has decided to crack whip against 1.50 lakh registered dealers, who failed to deposit Value Added Taxi (VAT) in the national Capital. Of about 3.25 lakh registered dealers in Delhil, about 45 per cent of them have not paid their VAT so far.
The VAT department is finding difficult to meet the revised target of Rs 21,000 crore in the current fiscal year. The Government has started reaching out to the defaulters through personal phone calls, customised calls and SMSes. Even advertisements are being issued urging defaulters either to pay up their taxes or face action.
According to officials, during investigation of defaulters, main reason being cited by dealers who have not paid their taxes is that they had been selling goods which do not fall under the VAT ambit. Many defaulters claimed that their sales were far less than the purchases they had made. There are many who claim that they had already closed their business for the current fiscal. Officials say that of the revised scaled down VAT target of Rs 21,000 crore, the Kejriwal Government has been able to raise only Rs 18,851 crore so far till date. The Government had earlier set a target of Rs 24,000 crore through VAT collections.
A senior officer said that it was unlikely that the Government was going to meet even its revised VAT target. The Government had generated about Rs 18,000 crore through VAT collections in the last fiscal. Officials say that the Government has set the unrealistic VAT target. That’s was the reason that the department could not meet the target. According to officials, the VAT has stopped raiding defaulter traders in the past one year and they are focusing on survey in which their enforcement used to conduct survey of sale and purchase and they try to bring them in the VAT net.
Reports suggest that the Government was able to generate Rs 16,966.21 crore till March 17 in 2014-15. It has, however, been able to raise Rs 18,851.30 crore through VAT collections during the same period in the current fiscal. On an average, the Government can raise Rs 572.63 crore VAT this year as against Rs 399.78 crore in last fiscal.
While the monthly growth rate through VAT collections has been 43.24 per cent, the annual growth this fiscal has been 11.11 per cent. In last fiscal, the VAT collections made by the Government was Rs 946 crore in April, Rs 1,212 crore in May, Rs 1,648 in June, Rs 1,725 crore in July, Rs 1,479 crore in August, Rs 1,515 crore in September, Rs 1,669 in October, Rs 1,654 in November, Rs 1,462 crore in December, Rs 1,832 crore in January, Rs 1,419 crore in February and Rs 1,988
crore in March. This fiscal,
the Government made the VAT collection of Rs 1,475
crore in April, Rs 1,518
crore May, Rs 1,534 crore
in June, Rs 1,718 crore in
July, Rs 1,538 crore in August, Rs 1,551 crore in September, Rs 1,801 crore in October, Rs 1,751 crore in November, Rs 1,757 crore in December, Rs 2,022 crore in January and Rs 1,610 crore in February.