Chennai, December 23: The Gems and Jewellery Federation today said they would make a representation to the finance ministry, seeking scrapping of the proposed Direct Tax Code.
“The Direct Taxes Code and the proposal for search and seizure provisions, Tax on Gross assets and Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on all payments should be scrapped”, Gems and Jewellery Federation (GJF) Director Anantha Padmanabhan, the apex body for three lakh jewellers in the country told reporters here.
Stating that DTC would badly hit business if implemented, Padmanabhan said the body planned to meet the finance minister and present their objections over DTC.
The proposed provision empowers tax officers to seize any stocks found in trade of bullion, precious or semi-precious stones or jewellery, during a search operation.
Padmanabhan said DTC would cause default in repayments made to suppliers, banks and financial institutions.
On the Tax on Gross Assets, he said the proposed provision would have “penalising effect” on assesseses as they would be subjected to substantially higher incidence of tax than what would have been payable.
With regard to the TDS on all paymens, Padmanabhan said payment for domestic supplies and deduction of tax at 10 per cent would result in blockage of working capital for the assessees, which, he claimed was already facing a liquidity crunch.
—Agencies