New tax zone plan under study

The Kolkata Commissionerate which includes West Bengal, Sikkim and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is going to make a proposal to the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for setting up one more commissionerate in Kolkata.

"Huge amount of workload has necessitated another commissionerate in Kolkata and we are going to make a proposal to the CBEC for setting up the same," H K Sharan, chief commissioner of central excise and service tax of the Kolkata Commissionerate said during an interactive session on service tax at the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI).

However, Sharan did not divulge the time-frame for presenting the proposal.

He informed that new service tax offices would be operational in Guwahati and Arunachal Pradesh by April 1 this year.

The service tax collection of the Kolkata Commissionerate for 2007-08 has been around Rs 1,800 crore till February this year with the target being Rs 2,195 crore by the end of this fiscal.