Etailers should file quarterly tax returns, Delhi VAT department insists

Ever since ecommerce picked up momentum in India, there’s been a lot of debate about tax and regulations for the ecommerce sector. Suddenly the government wanted a share of the ecommerce pie too and wanted etailers to pay taxes. There’s also been talk about allowing FDI in ecommerce and the endless debates on the pros and cons of it.

In light of the GST laws in discussion currently, we heard about the Tamil Nadu state government’s decision to keep VAT laws on hold for now giving tax relief to etailers. But looks like the Delhi state government is not in the mood to favour online retailers for now.

The Delhi VAT department will check into the books of big and small players on ecommerce platforms to look into tax evasion issues. A notification will soon be implemented making it compulsory for all online portals to file their tax returns on a quarterly basis. Even the retailers selling on these platforms will have to file their returns.

“The Delhi Value Added Tax Act gives us the power to ask everyone doing trade of taxable goods to file their returns. We are citing Section 70 of the Act, which empowers to bring in a notification for this purpose. This will also enable us to identify the dealers registered with the VAT department and operating on these platforms. This will eventually ensure that the non-registered dealers also comply and register with the department,” VAT commissioner, Sanjeev Khirwar said.

Khirwar said the notification can be expected in a day or two. “We will later check the data of registered dealers who are also selling and purchasing through online portals to check for any discrepancy in their statements filed as part of the tax returns,” he said.