Raipur, Jul 12 (PTI) Small traders can heave a sigh of relief as the Chhattisgarh government has decided to waive VAT dues of up to Rs 25,000 in cases pending for more than 10 years, officials said on Saturday.

The move to write off old VAT dues is expected to benefit more than 40,000 traders and will help reduce litigation in more than 62,000 cases, significantly easing the compliance burden, they pointed out.

Simultaneously, multiple amendments to GST (Goods and Service Tax) provisions will also be introduced under the broader agenda of improving the business climate in the state, they said.

During the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Friday, the drafts of Chhattisgarh Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill 2025 and Chhattisgarh Settlement of Outstanding Tax, Interest and Penalty (Amendment) Bill 2025 were approved, an official release said.

Both legislations will be tabled in the upcoming Monsoon Session of the assembly set to begin on July 14, it added.

The approved GST amendment draft incorporates key changes aligned with the decisions taken in the 55th meeting of the GST Council, it said.

"A major relief proposed pertains to penalty-only cases, where no tax demand is involved. In such cases, the mandatory pre-deposit for filing an appeal before the appellate authority has been reduced from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, providing much-needed relief to the business community," it said.

"In an effort to bring uniformity, the provision related to 'Time of Supply' has been deleted with respect to taxability on vouchers, as there were conflicting views among various Advance Ruling Authorities on the matter. This amendment aims to bring clarity and consistency," as per the release.

Additionally, a key amendment has been proposed to exclude SEZ warehousing transactions from the GST ambit, the release informed.

These involve goods kept in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) warehouses, which may be traded multiple times without any physical movement, the release said, adding the change is aimed at boosting trade activities in SEZs. PTI TKP BNM

VAT waiver for long-pending dues eases compliance; GST amendments lower appeal pre-deposit, clarify vouchers and exclude SEZ warehousing. The government will write off legacy VAT demands up to a specified threshold in cases pending over ten years and introduce two amendment bills to adjust GST rules: reducing mandatory pre-deposit for penalty-only appeals, deleting the Time of Supply provision for vouchers to ensure uniformity, and excluding SEZ warehousing transactions from GST coverage to support intra-SEZ trade.