Delhi govt plugs loopholes in Tax collection

New

, Jun 17: The

has decided to streamline its

administration and plug loopholes in the system to improve revenue generation and help traders pay taxes in a hassle-free way.

Top officials in the Finance Department said new initiatives will include moving completely towards online payment of taxes by traders and introduction of a robust system to deter tax evasion.

According to a CAG report, the Delhi government ended up with non-realisation of over Rs 2,019 crore by way of under-recovery and non-levy of sales tax and value added tax during 2010-11.

In the report filed earlier this month, the CAG had said it found discrepancies such as cases of irregular claims of tax exemption, grant of concessional rates of tax, non- realisation of taxes and under assessment.

The officials said there was scope for improving tax collection and the government has decided to streamline the tax administration to punish tax evaders and ensure transparency.

The Delhi government had collected a total revenue of Rs 19,972 crore in 2011-12 and set a target to generate Rs 26,150 crore from tax revenue in 2012-13, an increase of 31 per cent from the previous fiscal.

The officials said the government has already introduced a number of "concrete measures" for checking "tax evasion and leakages", which include doing away with manual filing of sale and purchase details by the traders and increasing frequency of tax surveys at business premises.

"There will be stress on focused enforcement of tax compliance, drive against fraudulent refund claims and expeditious disposal of appeals," an official said.

The government has already extended the facility of online payment through 17 banks to all dealers.

"More banks are being added for the online payment facility during the current year to provide a wider choice to our dealers," he said.

The government will also soon completely dispense with the physical issuance of statutory forms needed to be filed by inter-state traders, he added.

The CAG in the report said it also found cases of exemption of tax against "fake forms" submitted by the dealers in support of inter-state sale as well as concealment of sale by them.

PTI