Bhubaneswar, Aug 11 : Odisha Cabinet on Friday approved a proposal to write off arrear tax cases between Rs 5001 to Rs 25,000 relating to OST Act, CST Act, OAST Act, Odisha Entertainment tax Act and OVAT Act, except for six goods, up to March 31,2023.
Finance Minister B K Arukha told newspersons after the cabinet meeting that the arrear tax revenue under the Odisha Entry Tax and the Odisha State Tax on profession, Trade and Calling and Employment Act 2000 shall not be written off.
The decision will not also be applicable to six goods—Petrol, diesel, ATF, Natural Gas, petroleum crude oil and liquor for human consumption.
The Minister said there are 59,243 arrear tax cases with revenue implication of Rs 8156.72 crore. Out of it 27,546 arrear tax cases are between Rs 5001 to 25,000 totaling to Rs 32,73,97,876.
If considered to be written off, it will reduce 46 percent of arrear cases with a sacrifice of arrear revenue of 0.4 per cent of the total arrear revenue.
Settlement of such a large number of arrear tax cases involving a merge amount of Rs 32.74 crore through tax recovery procedure is quite futile in comparison to man hours spent or required for the purpose,the Finance Minister said.
On the other hand, it will help the existing manpower resources to focus their time and effort for realisation of high stake arrears as well as GST revenue collection, Arukha said.
