New Delhi, Nov 14: The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) chairman SD Mohile has called a special meeting of the board members and chief commissioners on Monday to discuss ways for checking the misuse of modvat and improve tax compliance for increasing revenue. The meet will also discuss the poor response generated by the much publicised Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme and remedial steps needed to prompt litigants to avail of the scheme, sources in the revenue department said.Indirect tax arrears to the tune of over Rs 10,000 crore are eligible under the scheme. The scheme which started from September 1, 1998 has so far added a meagre Rs 150-odd crore to the revenue kitty.
Sources said the indirect tax collection is way behind the targeted figures for this fiscal. The 1998-99 budgeted target for excise is Rs 57,425 crore whereas for customs it is over Rs 47,000 crore.
Excise collection during the April-October period was in the region of Rs 26,000 crore with Rs 4,200-odd crore in October and Rs 4,000crore in September, 1998.
"The excise collection during the first seven months is about 7 per cent higher against the targeted 20 per cent over the actual collection last year. In customs, it is only 1 per cent compared with 17 per cent increase over last year's figure," said one official. Besides the five CBEC members and 12 chief commissioners, the six commissioners in Delhi-- three each in excise and customs will also participate in the meeting.
The meeting is also expected to discuss ways of stepping up indirect tax collection through audit and speedy adjudication of pending cases and strengthening of anti-evasion mechanism. "The department loses a significant amount though Modvat misuse by companies. The meeting could deliberate upon the process of identification of major units and special audit of such units," said the official.
The excise department has put several industries, including automobile parts, textiles, tyres ad tubes, cigarettes and petro products, on a `watch-list' where huge Modvatmisuse is suspected. The CBEC chairman wrote a letter to all the chief commissioners in October to focus on the increasing magnitude of modvat in recent years. Revenue secretary Javed Choudhry, the CBEC chairman and members had recently met finance minister Yashwant Sinha to apprise him of the revenue collection. The meeting is understood to have considered various possibilities to improve indirect tax collection, including removal of tariff exemption on several items to bolster the falling customs collection.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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