Issues (Resolved) in e-payment of Advance Tax under Kerala VAT- (Contd.)

In the first part of the above post I had pointed out that "Unless and until a specific utilisation is generated for the amount remitted as Advance Tax, the credit for the same will not be available to the dealer in the next return.'i.e. Advance tax remitted will lie idle without showing any credit in name of the dealer, though the dealer has remitted the same to the department."

In one instance, on a particular date, the STCP(Sales Tax Check Post) intercepted the vehicles of many dealers on the ground that as per some revised notification, the CST has to be paid in advance for the commodity being carried in the vehicle. This was against the normal practise wherein the Tax was remitted along with the next month return. As per the instruction of the STCP officials one of the dealer(Say Mr. A) remitted Advance Tax vide e-payment but he was unable to utilise the amount as the corresponding commodity was not listed in the AT module of the commercial taxes website. Further the intercepted vehicles were later released without making any advance tax remittances, as per instructions from higher authorities which was based on the request from various dealers on the unwarranted and 'harmful to trade' action of the STCP.

Thus the amount of Advance Tax remitted by Mr. A remained credited but unutilised in his account. This amount did not appear in the 'Advance Tax' section in his return during the following month. The issue was resolved as under,

He contacted his Assessing Officer through E-mail with details regarding the issue. This mail was forwarded to ITMC Trivandrum through DC Office. The ITMC conveyed their helplessness in the matter and asked the dealer to contact the STCP. On an e-mail from the dealer the STCP officials asked the dealer to send the copy of invoice for which the Advance Tax was paid. The dealer pointed out that as the Advance tax was not automatically credited in the previous return, he had to remit the tax corresponding to the invoice and adjusting the advance tax against the same invoice will result in duplication. But  officials at the STCP adviced that it was best to utilise the amount paid against the particular invoice so that full  credit can be availed and the Advance Tax paid was utilised against this invoice. This credit reflected in the next return of the dealer in the 'Advance Tax' section and he only had to remit the balance tax after adjusting the advance tax already remitted. The duplication did not matter as it was only superficial data without much relevance.