“This was the first meeting of the Board and we made our stand
clear,” said president KTF, explaining that the traders won’t be able to switch
over to the new VAT return form.
Koul said the KTF has issued a general instruction to all the
traders to desist from switching over and filing of the new VAT return form. “We
appeal the traders that they should continue with the old VAT return form and if
the Tax Department shows reluctance to accept that form, they should not worry.”
Koul said the KTF has also appealed chief minister Omar Abdullah
to intervene in the issue and “keep the promise he had made with the traders on
this issue earlier.”
The board consists of members from the traders organizations from both Jammu and
Kashmir.
Koul said the next meeting of the Board has been fixed for July
16.
He said the traders in Kashmir have faced difficult times during
the last twenty years and during last three seasons particularly. "Authorities
before introducing the new VAT return form should have taken into confidence the
traders, but they have not done that," he said.
Koul said when the traders are struggling to somehow manage their
businesses, "the government has come up with this new VAT return form which in
no way is acceptable to them."
He said the new form would entail a lot of accounting work by the
traders "which is not possible by them unless they hire the services of trained
accountants."
He said the chief minister should "keep the promise he has made
to us" in an earlier meeting and direct the department to revoke this form and
allow the traders to continue with the old form.
Source:
