(1) Every dealer liable to pay tax shall,-
[(a) if the,-
(i) aggregate of his turnover of sales and the value of goods transferred to any other place of his business or of his agent or principal situated outside the State, not by reason of sale, or (ii) turnover of purchases, exceeds rupees one crore in any year ;]
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](c) if he holds an Entitlement Certificate in respect of any Package Scheme of incentives, granted under this Act or, as the case may be, under the Bombay Sales Tax Act, 1959 (Bom. LI of 1959).] get his accounts in respect of such year audited by an Accountant within the prescribed period from the end of that year and furnish within that period the report of such audit in the prescribed form duly signed and verified by such accountant and setting forth such particulars and certificates as may be prescribed.
Provided that, for the year 2017-18, the provisions of this sub-section shall be applicable to a dealer, whose registration is deemed to have been cancelled under sub-section (6A) of section 16, if the,-
(a) aggregate of his turnover of sales, and the value of goods transferred to any other place of his business or of his agent or principal, situated outside the State, not by reason of sale, or (b) turnover of purchases, exceeds rupees twenty five lakh :]
Provided further that, a dealer whose tax liability, in any year commencing on or after the 1 April 2019 does not exceed rupees twenty-five thousand, shall not be liable to file such audit report.
Explanation.- For the purpose of this proviso, the expression "tax liability" means the total of all taxes payable by a dealer under the Value Added Tax Act or, as the case may be, the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 (74 of 1956), after adjustment of the amount of set-off or refund claimed by the dealer, if any, under the respective Acts.].
Explanation [I].- For the purposes of this section, "Accountant" means a Chartered Accountant within the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949).
[Explanation-II.- For the purposes of this section, an audit report shall be deemed to be the "complete audit report" only if all the items, certifications, tables, schedules and annexures are filled appropriately and are arithmetically self-consistent.]
(2) If any dealer liable to get his accounts audited under sub-section (1) fails to furnish a copy of such report within the time as aforesaid, the Commissioner may, after giving the dealer a reasonable opportunity of being heard, impose on him, in addition to any tax payable, a sum by way of penalty equal to one tenth per cent., of the total sales [* * * *] :
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[(2A) Where a dealer liable to file audit report under this section has knowingly furnished the audit report which is not complete, then the Commissioner may, after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard, impose on him, in addition to any tax payable or any other penalty leviable under this section or any other section or a sum by way of penalty equal to one tenth per cent., of the total sales.]
[(3) Nothing in sub-sections (1) and (2) shall apply to Departments of the Union Government, any Department of any State Government, local authorities, the Railway Administration as defined under the Indian Railways Act, 1989 (24 of 1989), the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited and the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation constituted under the Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950 (64 of 1950).]