India raising VAT processing charges

The Indian central government has raised the charges for accepting and processing Indian VAT annual returns as follows:

• INR  1,500 for returns of INR Nil to INR 10,000,000
• INR  2,500 for returns of INR 10,000,000 to INR 50,000,000
• INR  3,500 for returns of INR 50,000,000 to INR 100,000,000
• INR  3,500 for returns of above INR 100,000,000

Until recently, the fee was a flat INR 800, irrespective of the values in the return.

This rise comes on top of increasing delays in the repayment of VAT credits and refunds from the Excise Department, and has led to wide scale protests from industry.