Bill on ST arrears in TN Assembly

Chennai, Aug 31 (UNI) A Bill to provide for settlement of arrears of tax, penalty or interest pertaining to sales tax was introduced in the Tamil Nadu Assembly today.

Introducing the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Arrears) Bill 2006, in the House, Commercial Taxes Minister S N M Ubayaduallah said to expedite the collection of tax, penalty and interest involved in various appeals or revision, the Government brought out a scheme called 'Samadhan Scheme.' Accordingly, a law-Tamil Nadu Sales Tax (Settlement of Disputes) Act, 2002, was enacted and was in force up to October 31, 2002.

He said a substantial amount of sales tax, penalty or interest is still due to the Government and there are cases, which were still in dispute for a long time.

The Minister said the Government therefore announced on the floor of the Assembly on July 22, 2006 that a new trader friendly 'Samadhan Scheme' would be introduced for collection of tax arrears by introducing legislation.

The said scheme would be applicable to the arrears of sales tax, penalty or interest payable to the Government under the relevant Acts accrued up to March 31, 2001, other than those covered by writ petitions or writ appeals, he added.

UNI AKN SSC VC1556