OTS-2023 TO BENEFIT TRADE AND INDUSTRY BY REDUCING LEGACY CASES AND ENHANCING COMPLIANCE UNDER GST- CHEEMA

Chandigarh, November 15

Punjab Finance Minister Advocate Harpal Singh Cheema on Wednesday said that the Punjab Government has introduced the Punjab One Time Settlement Scheme for Recovery of Outstanding Dues, 2023 from today i.e. November 15, 2023, to March 15, 2024, to benefit the trade and industry by reducing the compliance burden of legacy cases and thereby enabling traders and industrialists to enhance their compliance under Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Revealing this in a press communiqué issued here, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the total pendency of tax, interest and penalty of demand up to Rs 1 Crore outstanding as on March 31, 2023 amounts to Rs 6086.25 crore. He said that the scheme has proposed a complete waiver of the pending dues of Rs 528.38 crore to benefit 39,787 taxpayers whose amount of total demand was less than Rs 1 Lakh.

Giving details of the scheme, the Finance Minister said that the taxpayers whose assessment has been framed till March 31, 2023, by the Taxation Department, Punjab shall be eligible to apply for settlement of their dues under this Scheme. He said that the scheme shall be applicable to pay dues pending under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956, the Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002, and the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005.

Disclosing slab-wise proposed waiver of Tax, Interest and Penalty, Harpal Singh Cheema said that the taxpayers with the amount of total demand (tax, penalty and interest) up to Rs. 1 Crore as on March 31, 2023, shall be eligible to apply for settlement under this Scheme. He said that the scheme would provide a complete waiver of tax, interest and penalty in cases with pending dues below Rs 1 Lakh, whereas waiver of 100% interest, 100% penalty and 50% of the tax amount would be applicable on the pending dues from Rs 1 Lakh to Rs. 1 Crore.

Appealing the traders and industrialists to avail this opportunity soon, the Finance Minister said that no application for settlement of outstanding dues under this Scheme would be entertained after March 15, 2024. Cheema said that the OTS for pre-GST arrears would not only reduce litigation of existing legacy cases but would also help in the smooth administration of GST by the taxation authorities ensuring the optimum utilization of the resources of the Department.