STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir has shown upto 15 per cent growth in income tax collection as compared to national growth of 12 per cent during the last nine-months.
This was stated by Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (CIT) J&K, Sangeeta Gupta at an interactive session organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) here on Tuesday.
Principal Commissioner asserted that after taking over the charge in July 2015, more than 53,000 new assessees were added in which 30,000 were from Srinagar division.
She informed that national growth of income tax collection is 12 per cent while J&K’s growth is far better than national figure.
Sangeeta said that when she took over the charge, the rate of income tax collection was minus 57 per cent and just after nine months the growth rate has been raised to 15 per cent. She complimented the traders and people of J&K saying that without their support it could not have been possible.
Responding to a question on Kashmir’s share of income tax collection, she said that both Kashmir and Jammu regions at par. She said that last year due to flash flood advance tax deposits of Kashmir region was marginal but this year the graph has shown the surge. “Kashmir and Jammu are same for me,” she maintained. She mentioned that with this growth rate the State Income Tax Department is collected about Rs 20 crore as additional tax.
Sangeeta asserted that after taking over the charge since July 2015, more than 54,000 notices were issued to the non-filer and stop-filer assessees. The State has 13 lakh PAN card holders and only 84,000 people pay income tax, she added. She mentioned that the Central Government has sent me in J&K with a target to add one lakh new assessees and since July 2015 about 53,000 assesses are already added and in the remaining two and half months till March 31st it is expected that the count will reach to 75,000 to 80,000. She said that the advance tax submitted by the new 30,000 assessees from Srinagar is far better than last year.
She said that providing response to a letter or notice from any government department is the minimum requirement of law. She urged upon people to comply with the notices issued by the government departments. “If you are not an income tax payee, you may not get a visa for abroad”, she said, adding that PAN card is mandatory for opening a bank account and availaing loans,” she maintained.
She informed that in her tenure three additional offices were opened at Katra, Samba and Baramulla to make tax filing easy for people.
She said that the proposal for opening another office at Rajouri District has already been sent to the Central Government and it is expected that it will be opened to soon.
Earlier, the programme started with the welcome address by Secretary General Arun Gupta.
President CCI, Rakesh Gupta presented bouquet to Chief Guest Principal CIT J&K, Sangeeta Gupta while Chairman Federation of Industries, Rajesh Jain presented bouquet to R.N Sahay CIT Appeals, and Raj Daluja, Editor-in-Chief STATE TIMES presented bouquet to Deputy Commissioner, Headquarters, Rajiv Gabgotra.
CCI President, Rakesh Gupta, while extending full support to the Income Tax authorities, urged upon the Principal Commissioner to take Chamber into confidence before conducting surveys or raids. CCI members also felicitated Sangeeta Gupta by presenting a memento. Deepak Aggarwal, member CCI, presented the vote of thanks.
