When you make a purchase next, do insist for a bill from the seller as doing so may help you win a handsome prize in a lucky draw.

All that a consumer will have to do is to forward the bill to a given WhatsApp number.

The Uttar Pradesh commercial tax department will hold lucky draws of consumer bills regularly in various cities every month to inculcate among the people the habit of asking for bills for purchases made by them and also to act against tax avoiding sellers.

The department has sought around Rs 1 crore from the state government for holding lucky draws during the current financial year. Bills for any purchase above Rs 500 will be considered for the lucky draw.

The commercial tax department has, however, dropped the idea of launching another scheme seeking to give cash rewards to informers who helped it detect tax evasion by giving an intelligent input like one already practised by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). It was planning to float this scheme parallel to the lucky draw scheme.

“We did not find the idea workable as an informer was supposed to get a certain percentage of tax amount detected on his input, subject to the condition that the evaded tax was actually realised. It is often seen that dealers/ transporters go to the court or tribunal after they are caught evading tax,” Chauhan said.

Commercial tax commissioner Kamini Ratan Chauhan said: “We are trying to launch the lucky draw scheme as part of our consumer awareness campaign before Diwali, provided we get funds for this purpose from the state government.”

“Under this scheme, consumers will be asked to upload their bills and send to a WhatsApp number which will be advertised. We will hold lucky draws of the bills we receive this way every month. Consumers whose bills are selected in the draws will be given prizes,” she said.

Chauhan refused to disclose the kinds of prizes will be on offer but sources said it might include television, cellphones and refrigerators.

She said the bills to be received from consumers would be examined and analysed to find out if any dealer was hiding sales or turnovers to evade tax liability and due action would be taken against the defaulters.

The lucky draw scheme, however, is not a new thing to the department which, in its earlier avatar as the trade tax department, had launched one such scheme around 15 years ago. It was limited in its reach and scope as it was applicable only to the bills issued by sweetmeat shops. The objective was to bring ‘mithai shops’ that were hiding their true turnover under the tax net.

“The lucky draw scheme would get a suitable name very soon,” she added.

First Published: Oct 24, 2018 14:35 IST