VAT clarification soon

The directorate of commercial taxes of the government of West Bengal will soon be issuing a set of clarifications on procedural and other relevant issues related to the value added tax (VAT) in the state, C M Bachhawat, commissioner of commercial taxes (CCT) of WB, said at a meeting on VAT organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce(ICC).

Bachhawat said, "The clarification will be issued within a fortnight."

Customers could not be changed more than the 'maximum retail price' and this was completely illegal, said Bachhawat.

He said such complaints would be dealt with swiftly.

The directorate might also come up with a simpler version of the return form by June 15.

Notification of commodities as 'inputs', tax related classification of items and refund to export oriented unit (EOU) will be among the major areas where clarifications will be provided, Bachhawat added.

The West Bengal taxation laws (amendment) Ordinance 2005 was passed on April 30.

"The department will address procedural issues related to refund to EOUs and non-EOUs significantly involved in export," said Bachhawat.

The CCT requested the industry to provide a list of items widely used as inputs for the industry so that a input notification can be issued.

"The government wants industry to provide a list of items used as inputs. If justified in terms of industrial benefit, these items can be notified as input under the West Bengal VAT structure," he added.

Manufacturers were not eligible for tax credit on inputs imported from other states, but benefit provided on other related activities like packing were eligible for input credit, he explained.

The clarification would also settle cases where the same commodity came under different tax slabs depending on nature of transaction.

He urged industry to reduce prices where tax rates had been reduced.