The State Commercial Taxes Department has planned to track all the records of e-Sugam registrations after discovering misuse in the online filing system for VAT.
A dealer can misuse e-Sugam during consignments as the software enables cancellation or registers completion of transporting goods within 48 hours. To evade VAT, some dealers cancel their transactions even after sending the goods from one place to another. Because of this, the department suffered huge losses as there is no tax for cancelled transactions.
According to sources, the department was unaware of the misuse by some dealers and it came to their notice after a report on the electronic filing system published in Express.
Sources said cancellation citing reasons like unavailability of vehicles, shortage of staff and the like, were false as it helped them evade tax. Bantwal-based dealer Prasad Pai says the e-Sugam VAT registration facility is comparatively better than the earlier system. But the software needs some tweaks to check the reasons for cancellation. The time limit of 48 hours should be changed, he said.
According to sources in the Commercial Tax Department, cancellation of commercial tax check posts are among the hurdles in tracking tax evaders. However, cancellation of check posts also helped in curbing corruption in the department. State Commercial Tax Department Commissioner Ajay Seth said all local VAT offices in the state have been informed to keep track of registrations and cancellations under the e-sugam.