Payment of advance entry tax will start in Punjab on February 5. The Department Of Excise And Taxation, Punjab, has made requisite arrangements for the collection of this tax at the entry barriers to the state. Initially, only those bringing in furnace oil, lubricants, cement and marble will be required to pay the tax. For rest of the commodities, the old system of tax payment after the goods are sold will continue.

Giving details, Excise Commissioner, Punjab, A.Venu Prasad said that the new system is expected to plug a pilferage of over Rs 50 crore. These are the four main items that are brought into the state, as a result there is maximum pilferage of entry tax in these items. Cement for instance is coming from Pakistan, but there is not much revenue from that. Similarly marble is coming from Rajasthan, but the bills for the import are arranged locally.

The entry tax would be equivalent to the normal rates of VAT applied to these commodities. Gathering of entry tax in advance is part of the several recommendations for resource mobilsation given in the Sukhbir-Kalia report.

Prasad added that there would be no additional deployment of staff at the entry barriers for the collection of the tax. “The receipt for the paid tax would be given at the barrier and any additional payment will be adjusted in the later payments,” he said. The Excise Department has already implemented the recommendation that relates to the increase in VAT from four to five per cent on certain items. That was one of the first recommendation to be implemented. It is likely to bring in an additional revenue of Rs 300 crore, Prasad added.