Amid pandemic, Valley traders asked to pay taxes till Oct 31

Srinagar: The business community in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir here has expressed serious concerns after the government has directed them to pay the taxes till October 31st, 2020.
The traders have said that they have already suffered huge losses and are not a position to pay taxes at this juncture, saying that the deadline for paying the taxes should be extended till the ongoing situation improves on the ground.
In an official communiqué, the government of Jammu and Kashmir under the amnesty for the settlement of unresolved issues in the old tax regime for the smooth implementation of goods and services tax (GST) has revised the timeline for payment of taxes and has set 31st October as last date of paying the taxes.
The dealers in Kashmir have expressed serious concern in this regard, stating that the pandemic has already pushed them towards starvation as all the business establishments remained closed and no business was conducted for nearly five months due to lockdown enforced by the government in wake of COVID-19
One of the businessman from South Kashmir said all the business in the Valley is down for over a year now. The business has got badly affected from past one year after the abrogation of Article 370 last year and now the ongoing COVID situation.
He said that the government has earlier issued revised final dates but the situation was not favorable in the Valley for any sort of business but the revised date for paying taxes issued by the government is merely a joke for the business community.
The aggrieved traders said that the government is well aware about the huge lossses suffered by them due to continuous lockdown enforced in view of the pandemic to contain the deadly virus. “The business community is yet to resume the regular work since the lockdown hasn’t been eased completely across the Valley due to rising COVID cases,” they said.
They also said that the governments in other parts of the country have started to rehabilitate the people linked with businesses to mitigate the losses but “we are being forced to pay the taxes that too at a time when the businessmen across the Valley have suffered huge losses.”
The businessman have sought the intervention of the concerned department and demanded personal intervention of Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha to ensure the traders are pushed to face further hardships during the ongoing situation