The joint meeting called by the Karnataka State Souharda Federal Cooperative Limited and Karnataka State Cooperative Federation reiterated the demand that co-op societies especially PACS and Souharda co-operatives be taken off the hook of Income Tax. If the govt does not heed we would be forced to gherao district collectors’ offices, the leaders said.
Though the dates have not yet been decided but soon we will launch protest at district collector office, said Sharangowda Patil, MD of Karnataka State Souharda Federal Cooperative on phone to this correspondent.
The leaders one after the other said that the existence of the cooperative sector stands threatened as the Central and State governments are indiscriminately taxing Primary Agricultural Credit Societies and Souharda co-operatives. Co-ops have to pay 30% tax, which is even more than that paid by corporates.
In the meeting it was planned that a memorandum on the issue of Income Tax notices would be handed over to the Members of Parliament who are associated with the cooperative movement.
Karnataka State Souharda Federal Cooperative President Krishna Reddy, Karnataka State Cooperative Marketing Federation President Ganganna, Ex Minister and Bagalkot DCCB Chairman Ajay Kumar Sarnayak, Vijaypur DCCB President Shivanand S Patil were some of the participants who were sitting on the dais. Besides, a session on Income Tax and GST were also held in the meeting which was conducted by CA D.R.Venkatesh.
Over 65 delegates from different Souharda Co-ops, Milk Producers Cooperatives, Credit Cooperative, Agriculture Cr Cooperative, DCCBs and others were present on the occasion.
It bears recall that cooperatives in Karnataka keep receiving the letter from the Income Tax department asking them to pay the tax dues but according to sub-section 4 of 80 P the IT act does not apply to Credit Cooperatives, claim leaders.
Many primary cooperatives are small in size but they have been served with notices for paying tax dues for the past several years. Over 1,000 co-ops of the state have been served notices recently and over 10,000 cooperatives have been served notices across the country, as reported earlier in these columns.
It is being reported that there are over 45000 co-ops and 28 apex cooperative federations in the state. There are over 4643 Souharda Coops with a working capital of around Rs 20,000 crore.