Kolkata: Ahead of implementation of the goods and services tax (GST), West Bengal’s finance minister Amit Mitra on Wednesday amended four different laws, creating incentives for settlement of disputes over unpaid local taxes. Hotels, cinema hall owners and cable operators have been given an opportunity to settle all outstanding disputes over unpaid taxes by paying only half of the disputed tax arrears.
Through Wednesday’s amendment, the state government has also announced a waiver of penalty and late fee in disputes over entry tax introduced in the state in 2012. There are over 60,000 pending disputes over entry tax, according to a finance department official, who asked not to be identified.
The aim of the amendment is to create a mechanism for resolving pending disputes.