The central government's Voluntary Compliance Enclosure Scheme (VCES) for service tax has reaped high collection in the Ahmedabad zone. Service tax commissionerate of Ahmedabad zone received Rs 164 crore till the last date of second installment of VCES on June 30.

As many as 1,481 service providers deposited the amount with the office of Ahmedabad, zone which comprises of 20 districts of Saurashtra, Kutch, North and Central Gujarat. According to VCES, minimum 50% amount of total tax dues was to be paid by December 31, 2013, and remaining by June 30, 2014. The scheme came into effect on May 13 of last year.

Out of 1,481 applications, 59 were rejected, which were for Rs 13 crore. Remaining 1,422 applications were accepted leading to the high collection. "The depositors can now deposit the rest of the amount with interest till December 31, 2014," said a service tax official.

Service tax officials believe that the arrests of builders in Rajkot and Ahmedabad last year led to such good response for them. The department will continue to take strict action, including arrests against the tax evaders.

"In terms of value, the maximum amount was received from those involved in construction of commercial and residential complexes, security services, work contracts and business auxiliary services," said official. More than 200 services come under tax net. In the first installment, 2,842 service providers deposited Rs 294.38 crore in the Ahmedabad zone. On December 31 itself, 545 service providers deposited Rs 36.84 crore in tax in the zone.

In April-June 2014, the excise department collected excise duty worth Rs 1,994 compared to Rs 1,788 crore in same period last year, up 11.52%. In case of service tax, the department collected Rs 1,305 crore as compared to Rs 1,110 crore in the first quarter last year, an increase of 17.57% for the zone.

The central excise and service department have been given 20%-40% higher targets in the current financial year over 2013-14. The department of revenue has set overall targets of Rs 10,110 crore for excise duty and Rs 6,940 crore for service tax collections for the current fiscal.