The Commercial Taxes Department in Anantapur has issued a notice to a fuel dealer in Penukonda to pay ₹5 crore as sales tax on the quantum of diesel the agency had supplied to various consumers, APSRTC.
Joint Commissioner Commercial Taxes Neeraja told The Hindu that the department had noticed that the agency had sold almost 10 times more quantity of diesel/petrol than the figure shown in their returns.
“The source of diesel/petrol is not of our concern, but since they have sold it in Andhra Pradesh, they need to pay tax and we will very soon impose an equal amount as penalty,” she pointed out.
“When we heard complaints about some dealers illegally getting diesel from Karnataka, where the sales tax is only 25.9% compared to 31% in Andhra Pradesh, from the Petroleum Products Dealers’ Association and about some agencies supplying to several APSRTC depots, we sought the data from APSRTC. We are yet to get a response from them,” Ms. Neeraja said.
The Commercial Taxes department has 10 check posts across Anantapur district where any tanker without proper tax payment comes in, the checking teams impose penalties. In some cases, they have even gone to extent of giving third-party attachments of their bank accounts.
Every refining company now has automation at the dispensing nozzle and even the smallest quantity gets recorded with the company, hence any agency cannot sell more than 2,000 liters in loose to the bulk consumer. District Civil Supplies Officers are also supposed to check twice a month the total quantity procured by them and how was sold to whom.
