VAT deposit made more cumbersome

With the insertion of new challan form 2-B,the tax-payer shall now be required to fill up 90 per cent of tax/penalty in form VAT-2,10 per cent in form VAT-2A and for payment of 20 per cent of surcharge/additional tax,the newly introduced form VAT-2-B is required to be filled and for balance amount of 80 per cent,the amount shall require to be included in form VAT-2-A.

The new procedure will facilitate the government to directly transfer 20 per cent of the amount of surcharge/additional tax paid to the account of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Fund.

Strongly condemning the new system,Mohali District Tax Bar Association president J P Dhiman was of the view that like Income Tax and Service Tax challans,wherein payment of tax,education cess and higher education cess are deposited through one consolidated challan,only single challan should be devised for payment of VAT also,which would save lot of precious time and cost of paper and stationery of the taxpayers.

He also drew attention of the state government towards the public notice issued by the Excise and Taxation Department,wherein the taxpayers were asked to submit a separate cheque towards payment of 20 per cent of the amount of additional tax/surcharge in favour of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Fund for the month of May (due in June).

“How could this be possible when the notification in question was made applicable with effective from June 20,which was also the last date of submission of tax payment through cheques,” Dhiman questioned,while calling for immediate withdrawal of the notification as well as public notice and instead follow the system of Income Tax department for the convenience of the taxpayers.