In an attempt to boost revenue collections, the AAP government has reportedly started tightening noose on e-commerce portals by directing them to furnish all the details of their dealers by November 17.
A highly-placed source said that the city administration’s trade and taxes department has shot off notices to e-commerce portals — Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart — to submit all the relevant details of their dealers, along with their addresses, latest by November 17.
The source said that the decision was taken to ensure that all those dealing in e-trading would pay VAT on the goods they sell and also file returns of their annual income. The administration’s move to go after e-commerce portals comes after inconsistent VAT collections during the past six months.
If the VAT collections made so far are any indication, the AAP government reportedly is way off the mark to achieve its target of Rs 24,000 crore for financial year 2015-16. The government had increased its VAT target by about Rs 5,500 crore from the total collections of Rs 18,554.91 crore it had raised in the previous financial year.
A senior bureaucrat said that the increase in trading through e-portals had brought a sharp decline in the sale and purchase of goods in shopping malls all across the city. Estimates suggest that the sales of goods through e-portals reportedly caused a decline of 54 per cent trade in the shopping plazas.
The bureaucrat said that the e-trading has been causing an annual loss of about Rs 800 crore to Rs 1,000 crore to the state exchequer. “Once all the details about the dealers of these e-portals are available, we can ensure that VAT is paid on each and every item that is sold by these companies.”
The government is also keeping a close watch on the offers that the e-commerce portals have been making through advertisements during the festive season. “Once the festive season is over, we will check each and every detail of these companies to ensure there is no loss of revenue to the state exchequer.”
The administration has also asked all the companies dealing in e-trading to get themselves registered with the trade and taxes department. The companies would be bound to provide all the details about heir day-to-day trading to the department. Those companies who fail to pay VAT on the goods they sell through web-portals are likely to face strict action. Once the companies disclose the details about their volume of trading to the government, they will have no other option but to file their annual returns as well.
