KL Report
SRINAGAR
The Commercial Taxes Department (CTD), Kashmir has set an all-time high revenue target of about Rs 1506.56 crore during the current financial year against an achievement of Rs 1120.27 crore during last fiscal. This includes revenue target of Rs 1345.62 crore under Sales Tax / VAT, Rs 157.34 crore under stamps and Rs 3.60 crore under Passenger Tax.
As per a statement it was revealed that the revenue realization in Kashmir division has increased from Rs 490.78 crore in 2008-09 to over Rs 1120 crore in 2012-13, marking three folds increase.
The Additional Commissioner, CTD, Kashmir in a power point presentation said that the total revenue realized on account of VAT and CSD is of the order of Rs 268.52 crore against last year’s Rs 22.76 crore showing an overall growth of 18.94%. He said there is also growth of 7.09% in revenue under GST. It was stated that about 1180 registrations have been granted upto ending July 2013 including 644 under VAT and 536 under GST. The total number of dealers registered stands as 31427 which include 18278 under VAT and 13148 under GST. About 2420 assessments has been completed under GST Act in the first quarter of the current fiscal whereas 807 inspections have been conducted, in which 159 cases of violation of the provision of VAT Act have been detected.
The details were given at a quarterly review meeting of the Commercial Taxes Department, Kashmir Division held on Saturday at the Excise and Taxation Complex, Rambagh, Srinagar where the Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs, Abdul Rahim Rather presided the meeting.
It was stated that against the total revenue target of Rs 1506.56 crore, the achievements registered during the first quarter of the current financial year is the order of Rs 530.49 crore against Rs 473.28 crore registered during the corresponding period of the last fiscal which shows the growth rate of 12.09 percent.
The meeting, among other concerned officers, was also attended by the Commissioner Commercial Taxes, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Additional Commoner, Commercial Taxes, Kashmir, Hakeem Rafiq Ahmad, Additional Secretary, Finance, Showkat Aijaz, Deputy Commissioners of various wings of CTD and Commercial Taxes Officers (CTOs) of various circles of Kashmir Division.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister has urged for extensive monitoring and regular audit assessments to plug all the Tax pilferages adding that the officers should conduct regular inspections also in this regard. He said a vigorous tax recovery drive should be taken to realize arrears from the defaulters. He asked the officers of the department to work with added zeal to further improve performance of the department. He said efforts of the officers should not be to realize assigned targets only but to surpass these. He said shortfalls detected in one quarter should essentially be rectified in the next quarter. He also urged for expeditious completion of the total computerization of the CTD.
