Sikkim traders for delay in tax assessment
Gangtok, Aug. 27: About 700 businessmen of Sikkim today demanded postponement of the date of their income tax assessment. They said they would face problems if assessed from the announced date of April 1, 2007.
The traders, who gathered in front of the income tax office at Bhanu Path and submitted a memorandum to income tax officer L.D. Lepcha that was addressed to Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, want to be assessed from April 1, 2009.
The deputation was organised by the Sikkim Chamber of Commerce.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had ordered on July 28 that all non-Sikkimese residents of the state would be assessed for the 2007-2008 fiscal. This is the first time that the central act has been implemented in Sikkim. However, holders of Sikkim Subject Certificates and Certificates of Identification have been exempt from paying tax.
Suresh Agarwal, the general secretary of the chamber of commerce, said the Sikkim Income Tax Manual, which governs tax collection of Sikkimese people, ceased to exist from June 16 after which the central tax was enforced. “The CBDT directive has created anguish and confusion among the people.”
The president of the traders’ body, S.K. Sarda, said the Assembly had earlier released a white paper requesting the Union finance ministry that sufficient time be given to create awareness among the people before implementing the act.
“We have to educate the tax-payers and prepare them mentally about the new system of taxation,” Sarda said. “We have requested the finance minister for arranging seminars in the state for the tax-payers. The tax should be assessed from April 1, 2009.”
An income tax commissioner will arrive here in the next couple of days to meet the state finance secretary, Lepcha said.
Sarda said about 400 business families who had come to Sikkim prior to its merger with India on April 26, 1975, did not possess the Sikkim Subjects Certificates. “We demand that these families be exempted from paying taxes like their Sikkimese brethren — an assurance that the chief minister has given us several times.”
( SOURCE: TELEGRAPH)
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