OTS policy for tax defaulters soon

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Chandigarh, July 27

The government is all set to bring a one-time settlement (OTS) policy for tax defaulters, including defaulters for Value Added Tax and Central Sales Tax, after the matter is taken up by the Cabinet in its meeting on Saturday.

Whether to increase user charges for all government guest houses, including the Punjab Bhawans at Chandigarh and Delhi, will also be discussed in the meeting.

Though a final call on the OTS policy will be taken in the meeting, the Taxation Department is learnt to have proposed letting off nearly 27,000 defaulters who owe small amounts to the government. The government will rather concentrate on the defaulters whose defaults are of high value.

It has been learnt that the maximum amount is owed by the defaulters who did not pay taxes under the Punjab VAT Act, 2005 (21,734 defaulters owing Rs 11,810.34 crore as tax, interest and penalty). This is followed by defaulters under the Central Sales Tax Act (19,026 defaulters owing Rs 2,573.86 crore), the Punjab Infrastructure (Development and Regulation) Act (1,952 defaulters owing Rs 690.39 crore) and the Punjab General Sales Tax Act (689 defaulters owing Rs 297.65 crore).