Business community given opportunity for compliance: RTO Hyderabad launches digital invoicing enforcement drive

Business Recorder reported that the Regional Tax Office (RTO) in Hyderabad has started an enforcement drive to check whether goods transporters hold digital invoices under the Sales Tax law. Officials stopped about 30 vehicles carrying goods that lacked the required invoices or documents, even though the businesses concerned had enrolled in the Digital Invoicing platform. Each vehicle was allowed to move once the due tax was paid or a digital invoice was produced.

Officials said the goods had moved without digital invoices, although a tax invoice must be issued before any movement of goods. Taxpayers were reminded of their legal obligations and urged to comply with the Digital Invoicing requirements at the time of dispatch. The tax office added that the same compliance could have been ensured when the goods were first sent out, rather than after they were halted.

Adil Ahmed Siddiqui, president of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and S.M. Jafri, president of the Hyderabad Tax Bar Association, met Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue Sajjad Akbar Khan. They welcomed the transparent enforcement and asked that businesses be given time to understand and adopt the rule that invoices must be issued at dispatch. The Chief Commissioner agreed to pause further action, provided both bodies help secure prompt voluntary compliance, and the office called the step part of a wider push for a transparent, well-documented tax system.