Maharashtra – VAT / CST Settlement Scheme Discussion Organized by NVCC

The premier organization of traders of Vidarbha, the Nagpur Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce, on its 9th Executive Council, organized a discussion on the settlement scheme on the controversial balance amount of VAT / CST from April 1^st, 2019.

At the discussion Shri M.N. Kokan (Joint Commissioner, State Tax (Admin) Nagpur Division), Shri Sunil Lahane, (Deputy Commissioner, State Taxation, Nagpur), Shri A. Mule, Assistant Commissioner and C.A. Shri Ritesh Mehta, were present as the chief guests.

Shri Hemant Gandhi, Chairman of the chamber welcomed and presented Shri Kokan with a traditional shawl, sacred coconut and a bouquet of flowers. Shri Ashwin Mehadia, Vice Chairman of Chamber introduced Shri Kokan to the audience. Shri Arjun Das, Vice Chairman and Shri Sachin Puniyani, the Treasurer, welcomed Shri Sunil Lahane, (Deputy Commissioner State Tax, Nagpur) with a bouquet of flowers.  Shri Ram Avtar Totla welcomed C.A. Ritesh Mehta. Shri Sanjay K. Agarwal hosted the program and Shri Swapnil Ahirkar, Joint Secretary presented the vote of thanks.

Addressing the audience Shri Kokan mentioned that instead of following the famous Lucknawi saying, “you first, you first”, with respect to the tax compliance, we must all begin by saying, “me first, me first.” He said that before the introduction GST, the tax collection used to increase by 15% annually, which has now reduced drastically to 7.5% after the enforcement of GST. He further added that, the Settlement Scheme will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will be initiated from April 1^st 2019 to June 30^th, 2019. The second phase would be initiated from July 1^st to July 31^st, 2019. In these two phases, the issues dating from April 1^st 1964 to March 31^st 2010, and April 1^st 2010 to June 30^th 2017, would be resolved separately through proper tax paying at discounted rates.

C.A. Mr. Ritesh Mehta informed in detail about the facilities under the Settlement Scheme. He discussed the issues that are kept out of the purview of the scheme and also about the conditions required to take advantage of the scheme. Shri Kokan and Shri Sunil Lahane answered all the queries of the traders very patiently.

Shri Hemant Gandhi, the Chairman of the chamber said, the scheme provides the traders with a great opportunity to settle all the tax issues once and for all. He requested Shri M.M. Kokan and Shri Sunil Lahane to increase the time limit of phase 2 from July 31^st to November 30^th 2019. Shri Gandhi requested all the traders to take advantage of the scheme to settle all their pending or present tax issues.

On this occasion, the former Chairman Shri Prakash Wadhwani, Shri Prakash Mehadia (IPP), Vice Chairman- Shri Faroukh Akbani, Joint Secretary- Shri Umesh Patel, Public Relations Officer-Shri Shabbir Shakir, SIO-Shri Raju Makhija, members of the Executive Committee, special invitees, Associate Trader’s Organization’s trading representatives and members.

This information was given by Shri Sanjay K Agarwal, Secretary of the Chamber through the press release.