Vendors facing a Rs 5 crore fine for erroneous invoices: Punjab FM Cheema Harpal
Finance Minister Harpal Cheema announced on Sunday that the state has reached a significant milestone in its efforts to encourage tax compliance and transparency by imposing a penalty of Rs 5.16 crore on vendors for issuing invalid bills under the “Bill Liyao, Inam Pao” scheme. A significant portion of the Rs 4.01 crore penalty has already been recovered.
Cheema emphasized the program’s success by disclosing that 1,403 winners had received rewards totaling Rs 56.58 lakh for their involvement up to this point. He said that on August 21, 2023, users of the “Mera Bill” app were invited to post their purchase invoices as part of the initiative.
The minister said that 642 of the 65,443 invoices that were published on the app have been paid out of the 1,512 notifications that were sent to suppliers for billing inconsistencies. He emphasized how the plan would enhance tax revenue systems and how the public may actively help achieve this objective. According to Cheema, the “Mera Bill” app has also resulted in 108 new GST registrations, suggesting a favorable trend in tax compliance.
The minister also said that invoices pertaining to alcohol, out-of-state purchases, business-to-business transactions, crude oil, gasoline, diesel, aviation turbine fuel, and natural gas were not eligible for the program. In order to ensure the fairness and efficacy of the program, he emphasized that only invoices for transactions made during the previous month were taken into account for the draw.
