Delhi govt brings ecommerce portals under tax scanner

The Delhi government's Value Added Tax department has decided to bring all big and small e-commerce platforms under the scanner to check tax evasion. A notification would be sent out to all the players making it for them to file tax returns every quarter. All dealers operating through these platforms will also have to file their returns to avoid action against them.

The department has prepared a detailed set of guidelines on the process to be followed for all online portals and even the dealers transacting through them. The dealers can declare their details with regards to transactions executed through these portals both in Delhi and outside. Other states like Karnataka, Kerala and Rajasthan are working out a strategy as well to bring ecommerce operators under the scanner by making filing of returns compulsory.

In 2014, the VAT department had started an exercise to scan the transaction records of big online portals as part of a drive to check bogus dealers from misusing the e-commerce platform. The government had also asked registered dealers operating on online portals to submit their tax declarations for the past two financial years.