FCIK hails J&K Govt for pre-GST Amnesty

Srinagar, Dec 27: The Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has conveyed its gratitude to the Administrative Council of Jammu and Kashmir for approving amnesty for settlement of assessed/reassessed demands raised against industrial units for the period under VAT regime.

In a statement, President FCIK Shahid Kamili thanked Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and other members of the Administrative Council for considering the long pending demand of the organisation to provide a clean slate to the industry for pre-GST regime during the period industrial units were exempted from payment of VAT under remission mechanism.

He said that the industrial units had been put to great inconvenience and trouble by irrational demands raised by assessing authorities against them through unilateral assessments and reassessments.

"Many of the cases had been referred to the recovery wing which had caused great stress to the already stressful entrepreneurs."

Shahid Kamili termed the amnesty as the first gift to the industry and trade from the incumbent Chief Secretary Atal Duloo with whom the authorised representatives of FCIK including Presidents of all industrial estates of the valley had taken up this vital issue in a marathon meeting last Friday. He hoped that, with the firm assurance given by the Chief Secretary, all genuine demands made by FCIK in a comprehensive memorandum would get resolved soon.

The President FCIK has hoped that the guidelines issued under the amnesty will be simple and provide a “clean slate” to the industry as was promised before the transition into the GST regime. “All the cases about VAT regime needs to be closed for the simple reason that industry would not charge any tax from their customers during this period under remission policy in vogue.”, he added.

Whereas the amnesty granted today will likely settle all frivolous demands created against the MSMEs for the Pre-GST regime, the FCIK has demanded a strong recommendation from the J&K Government to the GST Council and Union Government for the grant of amnesty for defaults of MSMEs in the GST regime mostly happening during the troubled period of reorganization and Covid restrictions.