Telangana govt to seize assets of commercial tax defaulters

Hyderabad: The TS government will make public the defaulters of commercial taxes and seize their assets to recover arrears.

Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma held a meeting with officials of the commercial taxes department at the Secretariat on Thursday to initiate measures to collect Rs 1,194 crore arrears at the earliest to tide over financial crisis on account of demonetisation.

Officials informed the CS that of a total of Rs 1,194 crore arrears, Rs 838 crore was from the commercial establishments that closed down operations a few years ago.

Mr Sharma told officials to make public the defaulters and keep the list in public domain to exert pressure on them to clear the arrears. He said if they fail to do so even after this, their assets should be seized and auctioned to recover the arrears.

The commercial taxes department has been making public the names of only highest tax payers all these years but keeping the list of defaulters a secret.
The CS opined that there was no need to hide the names of the defaulters as they failed to clear the dues even after the government gave them some years to do so. He said government agencies such as TSIIC, HMDA, Housing Boards should be allowed to take part in the auction.

Commercial taxes commissioner V. Anil Kumar said the department had already initiated a special drive to recover arrears and collected Rs 182 crore between November 9 and 16.

The CS asked the officials to conduct a thorough study on the impact of demonetisation on revenue earnings and to keep tabs on the turnover of commercial establishments to ensure that arrears don’t mount.