Industries minister R V Deshpande said the government is only asking that the legitimate dues be paid. Amazon India, in particular, has been resisting the move, indiatimes.com reports.
Either Amazon should give or the customer should give or the dealer should give (the tax). Amazon fills up its godowns with products, they make deliveries, but who has to pay the tax? Either Amazon should pay or Amazon should collect and give it to us, Deshpande has claimed.
Ecommerce companies have been seeking clarity on state tax laws. Amazon has been demanding exemption on VAT payment saying its fulfilment centre (FC) only stocks, packs and dispatches products and was not doing business directly. It wants the government to collect VAT from sellers. The state says there is no provision in the VAT rules for retailers to take shared space at Amazons FCs.
In 2015, Amazon had differences with Karnatakas commercial taxes department for allowing sellers to register the fulfilment centre as an additional place of business. This led to the state cancelling the licenses of many smaller merchants registered on Amazon.
More recently, the Karnataka government proposed a 1% VAT deducted at source on payments by buyers to sellers on ecommerce sites, saying it would help keep tab on sellers revenues, the source cites.
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