Extension of Amnesty Scheme for Pre-GST Tax Arrears

State finance minister Devendra Fadnavis has extended the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s amnesty scheme for settling tax, interest, penalty, or late fee arrears prior to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

In his maiden budget address, Fadnavis stated that under the Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty, or Late Fee Act, 2023, the government will provide a full waiver of arrears if the arrears for any year are Rs 2 lakh or less as per the statutory order. He stated that this will benefit over one lakh small traders.

Furthermore, dealers with arrears of Rs 50 lakh or less as per the statutory order would pay only 20% of the total arrears, with the rest 80% remitted. According to him, this would benefit approximately 80,000 cases.

The MVA included the project in its budget for 2021-22. It offered full forgiveness for arrears under Rs 10,000 and benefited around 89,890 instances. A total of Rs 81 crore in outstanding debt was forgiven. Furthermore, dealers dropped 20,000 non-appealable claims in order to take advantage of the 2022 amnesty policy. A total of Rs 2,234 crore has been collected through this scheme, with arrears of Rs 6,947 crore waived.

The New scheme will come into force from 1st May to 31st October 2023. It will be applicable for the pending arrears as on 1st May 2023.