Success of VCES? … Way Forward!!

Indeed if you believe by the recent press release of Ministry of Finance, VCES has been a mega success. Upto 29-12-2013 the revenue had received over 40,000 declarationsinvolving over Rs 5500 crores. Further, from period of 26thDecember, 2013 to 29thDecember, 2013 itself revenue had received 16,000 applications involving Rs. 1500 crores of service tax dues.

The Statistics on one side are very impressive and connotes the success of scheme but when the number of declarations is compared with the number of service tax defaulters the things might not look that fascinating. Nonetheless the scheme has made significant contribution for both the revenue as well as service tax defaulters who can now take a sigh of relief and continue the normal compliance as other assessees.

The efforts have been remarkable on the government’s end to facilitate the declarations. Leaving few cases of disputes and disruptions, most of applications have been swiftly handled and processed. The VCES -02 dispatching have also been dealt with unprecedented swift.

At this juncture it is very important to note a categorical statement as mentioned in the above said press-release which has hinted on severe procedures to be undertaken by the department against the defaulters who have not envisaged themselves in the ambit of VCES scheme.

“I would like to advise that from 1st January, 2014, stern action will be taken against service tax evaders and the provisions in the Finance Act relating to arrest and prosecution will be enforced in right earnest.” –Finance Secretary on VCES

Henceforth, it has to be seen how the revenue approaches the cases of service tax defaulters who have not declared under VCES. Prosecution pipelines shall soon soar in most expected anticipation!!

Source :- http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=102197

About the Author:

CA Ankit Gulgulia (Jain)

Author is Practicing Chartered Accountant in New Delhi/NCR and specialising in Indirect Taxes, Corporate Laws and Transfer Pricing. He can be reached at ankitgulgulia@gmail.com.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided purely for your information only and you should check other information sources before taking any action based on any of the content in this article. Neither the authors nor website hosting the article make any warranty as to the quality or currency of the information contained in any of the site’s articles.

Readers are advised to consult the professional for understanding applicability of this article as a matter of jurisprudence. While due care has been taken in preparing this document, the existence of mistakes and omissions herein is not ruled out. No part of this document should be distributed or copied (except for personal, non-commercial use) without our written permission.

Note : As a part of Our Quality Policy , We Don’t Publish any Restricted Material on our Website . If you have issues kindly let us know here

Related Tags CBEC, Servicetax