Under the existing provisions of law, 100 per cent export-oriented units, as well as, units which export at least 75 per cent of their goods , are eligible to get refund of input tax in respect of the quantity exported at the pre-assessment stage.
In his 2008-09 Budget speech, Asim Dasgupta, finance minister of West Bengal had announced amendment in the West Bengal Value Added Tax Rules, 2005, which would enable the government to refund 50 per cent of the admissible amount of input tax to the exporters, after scrutiny of the returns, within one month of submission of application.
According to H K Dwivedi, commissioner of commercial tax (CCT) for West Bengal, the new rules would be applicable by May 2008.
This year, commercial tax in the state is expected to be around Rs 50 crore, against Rs 30 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 10 crore in 2005-06. West Bengal's commercial tax collection for the current fiscal is estimated to be around Rs 8,300 crore.
Out of this around 50 per cent of tax collection would be on account of value added tax (VAT).
