Entry tax on online sale on the cards in state

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, October 18

Entry tax on online sale is on the anvil and the process to decide about the slab on tax is on. The tax will be payable by courier companies in the state but finally the additional tax burden will be passed on to consumers.

The flourishing online sale has given an edge to manufacturers and big companies over retailers as no tax is payable and the state government is also suffering a revenue loss of Rs 200 crore to Rs 250 crore annually due to online sale, sources said.

Entry tax on online sale will augment the revenue of the state government as online transactions are tax-free and neither VAT nor entry tax has been imposed by the state on these goods.

Following resentment expressed by the local business community and Beopar Mandals, the Assembly passed the Himachal Pradesh Tax on Entry of Goods (Amendment) Bill 2016, imposing tax on all online purchases to check revenue losses caused by online trading in April but even after more than six months, tax had not been imposed.

The implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) will provide a uniform single tax structure all across the country which will be beneficial for small consumer state like Himachal.

Himachal is ready to implement GST from April 2017 which will provide a uniform tax, says Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner K K Sharma, adding that liquor and petroleum products were out of GST and the state would be free to impose VAT or excise duty on these.

The state Excise and Taxation Department is gearing up for implementing the GST and training being imparted to officials at the state level will be completed by December, following which training be imparted at the zonal level and then traders.

Sources said the government was mulling to impose 5 per cent entry tax on all goods delivered in the state through online transactions and modalities are being worked out to take final decision.