JAMMU, Dec 16: A Pre-Budget meeting was held at Excise and Taxation complex Rail Head Complex Jammu chaired by Finance Minister Dr. Haseeb A Drabu.
Commissioner Secretary Finance and other top officers were also present on the ocassion.
Threadbare discussions were held regarding existing taxation system and in the GST system which was to come soon. The Chamber President Rakesh Gupta presented a Memorandum of demands and stressed that it would be a great relief to the Industrialists who are state subjects be given proprietary rights of the land in the Industrial estates which is only lease basis at present.
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President Chamber of Commerce & Industry also demanded immediate announcement of amnesty on passenger tax and Commercial / Industrial Power outstanding bills. All demands were taken very positively by the Hon’ble Finance Minister. In addition the Chamber President also submitted the demands as follows:
Amnesty on account of faults in classification in VAT Act.
We request that amnesty be allowed on account of faults due to wrong classifications of various commodities for traders in case of VAT rates E.g Tin foil for packing material (should be 5% ), printer/ multi-functional printers(should be 5%), shoes (should be 5%)
Exemption of Entertainment Tax on Games Zone
Entertainment tax on running indoor activities like 5-D and 9-D theatres, bowling, Video games rides etc should be exempted.
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Power tariff for service industry / amnesty
We request that the power tariff for the hotels and service industry should be brought at par with industrial tariff and also amnesty on old recoveries be granted wherein interest and penalty be waived off as one time settlement for hotels and shops & Industries.
Service tax on Banquet Halls
One time service tax to be deposited on the food being served
Creations of New Wholesale markets / IT Parks / Cold Storages
It is almost 50 years now that one warehouse came into existence at Bikram Chowk to transact the wholesale business and thereafter no such places were identified to be developed for expanding the business for the next generations. This lack of vision has resulted into total congestion and saturation in the Jammu city. We request that adequate funds be earmarked for trade specific additional warehouses / IT parks and cold storages.
Affordable houses
It is submitted that affordable houses for one and all is the need of the hour which is supported by government of India. We request that adequate funds be earmarked for development of such facilities.
VAT / GST billing software
It is submitted that VAT on software that is used for VAT billing be exempted from taxation.
Extension for regularly exempted goods
It is submitted that exemption on Paddy, Rice, Wheat, Pulses, Flour, Aata, Maida, Suji, Besan and Dhalia be continued on the same pattern and as such necessary orders be issued by the Finance Department to keep these products in Zero% category.
Exemption of Toll on import of fresh fruits and vegetables
It is submitted that the toll tax being charged on import of fresh fruit & vegetables be totally exempted on the same pattern of exemption on export of Apple.
Industrial Sector
Free hold rights for industrial units
The Industrial land is being allotted on lease hold basis to the unit holders. We suggest to give free hold rights to the entrepreneurs who belong to J&K state. This will ease the pressure on them to avail extra finances from the financial institutions.
Power amnesty scheme for closed units
It is requested that power amnesty scheme for the industrial units which are not running and their power connections have been disconnected should be granted one time amnesty scheme.
Power amnesty scheme for existing / running units
Huge amount of government money as electricity charges are under dispute with the existing/ running industrial units. We request that an amnesty scheme at par with domestic power amnesty scheme issued by the government earlier should also be announced for industrial units having dispute of power bills.
Entry tax on Import of machinery and spares
It is requested to kindly allow import of machinery parts and spares by any Industrial Unit without paying any entry tax or taking permission from GM. The permission process is a healthy and tedious job and in today’s competitive world no Industry can bear the burden of shut down so they should be allowed to import immediately from Lakhanpur just on the self declaration of unit holder with TIN No. that it is to be used for his machinery only.
Negative List
Mustered Oil seed crushing unit are in thrust area but in negative list for VAT remisson.
Amnesty on Passenger tax
We request you kindly to announce amnesty on the cases of passenger tax considering the conditions on the grounds by which the transport sector has been hit badly.
Creation of New Industrial Estates
We regret to inform that besides the announcement made by your goodself in your last budget that a land bank of approximately 10 thousand kanals will be developed in our state. Till date we are not aware of any progress on this account which needs to be pushed more vigorously to encourage entrepreneurship.
Toll Tax on Cricket Bat Industry
The export of cricket bats are exempted from the purview of toll tax as per the industrial incentives available in the state for which an exemption form is required to be filled which is not only time consuming but also hamper the export process. We request that toll tax on export of Cricket bats should be totally exempted and there should be no formality whatsoever to be completed in this regard.
Special Cluster for Cricket BAT Industry
A lot of Cricket Bat Industry is running in un-organised sector. We suggest that a cluster area be developed for cricket bat industry near Jammu i.e Bishneh, Nagrota and one Kanal plots be allotted to the existing industry keeping in view the cluster development policy and incentives from MSME by Govt. of India.
Exemption of CST and submission of C-forms for sports goods
To boost the Cricket bat industry the UP Government has exempted CST and submission of C-forms for sports goods including cricket bats due to which the trade of sports goods including the cricket bat has diverted from our state to UP and our cricket bat manufacturing industry is facing crunch on this account. Sir, the Willow clefts are being produced in our state but the UP government is harnessing the benefits. We request that to save the cricket bat industry of our state the submission of C-forms as well as CST should be exempted for sports goods.
Toll Rates
No more enhancement in Toll Rates be made as already 0.80 paisa per kilo is imposed on goods apart from entry tax making goods more costlier.
Release of Payments
Payment to Contractors and Industrial Units against supply to government departments should be made through E-payment above Rs. 5000 as notified by Central Government.
Delayed Payment Act
All though the Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir has issued orders in this regard excluding the state government departments and corporations. This needs further improvement and we suggest that Govt. of India delayed payment act be implemented in toto.
Service Tax on Contract Labour
We request that service tax on account of payments made to the contract labour should be charged on the amount being charged by service provider over and above the wages & benefits actually paid instead of taking into consideration to whole component.
Toll Tax exemption to Industry
We request that toll tax exemption should be made available to all industrial units without submission of exemption forms and it should be on self affirmation of the entrepreneurs.
VAT remission and VAT refund on Raw material by SICOP
The existing incentive of VAT remission on finished goods and cash less VAT refund on raw materials purchased through SICOP is expiring on 31-03-2017 which needs to be further extended.
Post GST scenario for industry
We request that all the incentives available to the industrial units during VAT regime should continue after implementation of GST Act in our state.
The office bearers present in the Pre-budget discussions include Sh. Arun Gupta, Secretary General, Sh. Rahul Mahajan, Secretary and Sh. Ashu Gupta, Treasurer
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