Councils for traders to be set up in UP

The UP government is trying hard to prove it is a "trader-friendly government", and as part of these efforts, UP Minister of State for Taxation Sanjay Garg introduced the concept of "Vyapari Panchayats" in Agra.

Talking to Business Standard on the occasion, Garg said such panchyats would be held every three months, in every district of the state, to provide solutions to trade tax problems of the businessmen.

He said the trade tax department was the highest revenue-earning department of UP, and in Agra alone, there were 30,000 traders registered with the department, but till now, they were not receiving the facilities that they were entitled to.

These panchayats will ensure the traders do not face any problems in dealing with the department.

On the issue of UP not accepting the VAT regime, Garg said the stand of the UP government was that it would not accept VAT till the central sales tax was lifted. He said "double taxation" was not acceptable in UP at any cost because it would become a burden on the UP traders.

He said the UP government thought the most about the welfare of the traders in the state and it had decided to eliminate hassles the traders had to face in procuring tax forms like Forms 31 and 3-B.

These forms will be soon available on the Internet after the trade tax offices all over the state become online.