Haryana VAT officers

Administration and Duties.

1.  Appointment of Commissioner and other officers:

Authorization for appointing a commissioner rests with the state government. Along with the commissioner,  many Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioners, Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioners, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioners, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioners, Excise and Taxation Officers, Assistant Excise and Taxation Officers and such other officers to assist him are also appointed. State government may authorize such commissioner to appoint as many Taxation Inspectors and other officials to assist him as he thinks necessary.

2. Superintendence and Control:

The Commissioner shall be responsible not only for the administration and the collection of tax leviable under the Act but shall also be responsible for controlling all persons appointed to assist him. The State of Haryana for the purpose of tax administration, shall be divided into the following four ranges comprising the districts as mentioned against each, namely

Each range shall be headed by a Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner, each district by a Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner and each circle by an Excise and Taxation Officer or an Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer, as the case may be.

3. Jurisdiction of Assessing Authority:

a. The Commissioner and officers appointed are required to perform all the duties assigned to them and exercise the powers conferred to them in respect of the state and the area of jurisdiction respectively.

b. Officer in charge of the district or an Excise and Taxation Officer shall exercise the power of an assessing authority in relation to all dealers within his jurisdiction.

c. An Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer shall exercise power of an assessing authority in relation to a dealer within his jurisdiction whose gross turnover for the year under assessment does not exceed Rs 50,00,000/-. However, if during the course of investigation, an Assistant Excise and Taxation Officer comes across a case involving gross turnover exceeding Rs. 50,00,000/- he shall be competent to make assessment in such a case.

4. Certain Important Notifications:

4.1 Power of Governor of Haryana:          

Governor of Haryana is authorized under section 55(1) of the Act to appoint the Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Haryana, as Commissioner for carrying out the purposes of the said Act [Notification No.S.O.45 /H.A.6/2003/S.55/2003, dated 31st March, 2003].

4.2 Appointment of certain officers:

Governor of Haryana hereby appoints the officers mentioned in column (1) of the table below, to assist the Commissioner and authorizes them to exercise the powers and perform the duties of assessing authority within the meaning of above said clause of the Act in the areas mentioned in column (2) there against:-

Table

[Notification No. S.O.47 /H.A.6/2003/S.55/2003, dated 31st March, 2003]

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 55(1) of the Act, the Governor of Haryana hereby appoints the officers mentioned in column (1) of the table below, to assist the Commissioner and authorize them to exercise the powers and perform the duties of taxing authority (except assessing authority and revising authority) within the meaning of above said clause of the Act in the areas mentioned in column (2) there against:-

Table

[Notification No. S.O.48/H.A.6 /2003/S.55/2003, dated 31st March, 2003]

4.3 Appointment of Tax Inspectors by Commissioner:

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 55(1) of the Act, the Governor of Haryana hereby authorizes the Commissioner to appoint the Taxation Inspectors working in the Excise and Taxation Department to assist him for carrying out the purposes of the said Act [Notification No. S.O. 55/H.A. 6/2003/S.55/2003, dated 7th April, 2003].

5. Tax administration through State

a. The State will be divided into different ranges for the purpose of better administration and collection of tax and such range shall be further divided into districts. Each district may further be divided into circles. A range, district or circle shall be headed by such officers as may be prescribed.

b. For the purpose of better administration under this act State Government or the Commissioner may issue any order to the persons employed under this act and those persons shall be bound to follow such orders, instructions and directions of the State Government and the Commissioner. However, no such orders, instructions or directions shall be issued to interfere with the discretion of any appellate authority in the exercise of its appellate functions.

6. Clarification through Government Orders:

(a) In order to maintain uniformity in the levy, assessment and collection of tax or for the removal of any doubt, State Government may issue an order for the purpose of clarifying any point and all persons employed in the administration of the Act except an appellate authority, and all dealers shall be bound by such order.

(b) A dealer or a body of dealers has the authority to make an application to the State Government in Form VAT-M4 accompanied with court fee stamps of Rs. 500/- in order to seek clarification on an important issue relating to the levy, assessment and collection of tax under the Act which has not been settled by an order of the Tribunal or the law declared by the High Court or the Supreme Court. All persons employed in the administration of the Act except an appellate authority, and all dealers shall observe and follow the order issued by the State Government clarifying the issue.

(c) It is compulsory to upload all the orders issued by the State Government on the website www.haryanatax.com under the head "VAT orders".

(d) If any person feels aggrieved by an order issued by the State Government and publicized, he may at any time prefer an appeal against such order to the Tribunal as if the order is an appealable order passed under the Act and procedure for filing appeal except for limitation shall be same as laid down in Chapter VII for filing appeal before the Tribunal.

(e) When an appeal is preferred to the Tribunal by any person, it shall be heard and decided by the full-member Tribunal and if a prayer is made by the appellant for stay of operation of the order appealed against, the Tribunal may after hearing the State representative pass such order as it may deem fit and if a stay is granted, the appeal shall be heard and decided within a period of 60 days from the date of the order granting the stay.

(f) Any tax leviable under this Act which is proved to have not been collected because of, any order issued by the State Government under section 56(3) of the Act and publicized under section 56(4) of the Act or any order passed on appeal by the Tribunal or, any law declared by the High Court or the Supreme Court, which order or law is later reversed, shall not be payable.

(g) Interest leviable under this Act on any amount which has been refunded to an assessee as a result of, an order of the Tribunal or, an order passed by or the law declared by the High Court or the Supreme Court, shall not be payable if such order or law is later reversed.

7.  Maintenance of daily collection registers:

Daily collection register in Form VAT-G7 is required to be maintained in the office. In this register officer in charge is required to record the particulars of every challans received as a proof of payments.

8. Maintenance of demand and collection register.

Officer in charge of each district shall maintain a demand and collection register in Form VAT-G8 in respect of dealers registered under the Act showing the returns filed, assessments framed and payments made under HVAT Act by each dealer.

9. Reconciliation of Payment.

In the first week of each month the Officer in charge of each district shall prepare a statement showing collection of various amounts paid under HVAT Act and shall forward it to the Treasury Officer of his district for verification. If any discrepancy is discovered at the time of verification the Officer in charge of the district shall arrange reconciliation.

10. Conclusion:

Today you might be fighting cases at all levels in departments, and one thing would be most common in it; you are right and you have in support of yours several other judgements of higher courts some which are exactly same to your case and for other ratio decided is same. You will not get relief in this process. Many VAT officers have been in the net of corruption. They keep slapping notices even after assessment is done by audit department. Now, in some other circle, audit officer will issue notices saying as per commissioner`s orders that I want to audit. How many times will notice be served for the same job by different circles?

Good Departmental officers will ensure not only the correct and timely compliance of law but will also ensure unbiasness towards the taxpayers / business man, as he is the one who runs the government by contributing towards revenue streams. Departmental Officer’s must know that a tax payer helps in nation building in the every respect and rather than infusing them with fear and fright, they should ensure a healthy business environment which ensures compliance of law.

CA. Rajat Mohan
www.fixet.in