The Consumer Guidance Society of India, an organization that works for the betterment of consumers in the country, has sent a notice to the Sales Tax Office for the continued usage of Thermal paper by dealers while preparing cash memos. On 29th October 2015, Department of Sales Tax had passed an order for all the retailers that ‘All the dealers, who are liable to pay tax, shall discontinue the practice of issuing invoices, bill, and cash memo on Thermal paper.
As per the provisions of Section 86 (3) of the MVAT Act 2002, a dealer is liable to pay tax under the Act and is required to issue either a tax invoice, bill or cash memo to the purchaser. Such a tax invoice, bill or cash memo should be serially numbered, signed and dated by him, or by his servant, manager or agent. Moreover, a counterfoil or duplicate of such a bill, tax invoice or cash memo is required to be preserved for eight years from the end of the year in which the sale takes place. But nowadays, many dealers issue bills on Thermal paper. Thermal paper bills do not last for a long time and the printed matter fades away in few days.
Dr. M S Kamath, Hon. Secretary, CGSI states, “The consumers/buyers and consumer organizations have brought this fact to the notice of the Government. The consumers face difficulty especially when the product carries a guarantee/warranty for a certain period. In the absence of a legible bill, it also becomes difficult for the buyer to approach the consumer redressal forum. Hence, it was made compulsory by the Government to not use Thermal paper for cash memos or bills.”
