VCES - No Advantage in not paying tax - FM
THE FM addressed the second of his road shows on VCES at New Delhi yesterday. He noted that Delhi, which collects about 20 percent of India's Service Tax, got just 506 VCES applications out of the total 5000 applications.
The FM's concern is that there are 17 lakh registered assessees, but only 7 lakh are filing returns. He wants to get the balance 10 lakh assessees back into the fold.
The Board should explain to the FM that all non-filers are not evaders. We had explained in 19.07.2013 that all non filers are not really Service Tax assessees. We had also suggested another VCES - Voluntary Cancellation Encouragement Scheme, under which the registrations of those who are not under Service Tax may be cancelled. No registered assessee would approach the department for cancellation, because cancellation of registration is more difficult than registration itself.
The real evaders have not registered with the Department - the Department should try to get them into the Service Tax net.
The FM said, "We have a lot more information. We have permanent account numbers. We are receiving data from other sources. We have a Financial Intelligence Unit. We have a dedicated group of individuals putting all the information together to profile an individual... No advantage in not paying tax, but there is great advantage in paying tax"
Already 5000 applications are received under VCES; we just need another 9,95,000 to reach the FM's target.