Transporters directed to pay pending tax before March 31
The Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Solan, recently directed transporters to pay their pending Special Road Tax (SRT) and Passenger and Good Tax (PGT) before March 31. As many as 3,150 transporters have to pay this tax amounting to crores of rupees in Solan district alone since 2021. Earlier, commercial vehicles were liable to pay passenger and goods tax to the state Taxes and Excise Department till 2021. In December 2021, this tax was transferred to the Transport Department, which was charging a token tax called the SRT on commercial vehicles. The change was made as per a central norm for bringing all taxes under a single window platform.
Successive state governments have been extending the deadline for the payment of this tax, as it attracted a penalty and interest of 18 per cent on the principal amount. Terming this as exorbitant, the transporters had been demanding its waiver.
The Congress government has brought a one-time settlement scheme whereby the transporters were to pay a penalty of merely 10 per cent on the principal amount. Though this scheme was introduced about two years ago, the reluctant transporters did not comply with it. They have been pressuring the government to grant waiver.
To appease the powerful transporters' lobby, the previous BJP government had permitted passing of their vehicles and also the renewal of their permits, pending the payment of these taxes though as per the norms, no vehicle could be passed till its dues were cleared.
Regional Transport Officer (RTO), Solan, Surendra Thakur, said that the last date for the payment of the SRT and the PGT had been extended to March 31. He urged the defaulting vehicle owners to deposit the tax before the due date as the government had issued a notification on February 17, extending the last date to March 31. Earlier, this tax was payable by December 31, 2024.
Thakur said that the vehicle owners, who had not yet deposited these taxes, could pay a 10 per cent penalty in the RTO office along with the principal amount and in case of failure on their part to do so, their vehicles would be seized.
