Commercial Tax Department

The Andhra State comprising parts of the erstwhile Madras province was constituted on October 1st 1953. The Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939 was made applicable to the New State. The Salient Features of the said scheme were

a) Multi point sales tax on all commodities with a minimum turn over of Rs. 10,000/-
b) An additional ingle point tax on certain luxury items like motor vehicles refrigerators etc.
c) An exclusive single point sales tax and purchase tax on selected items.

Subsequently the Andhra Sales Tax Enquiry committee was appointed by the government and based on its recommendations the following changes were effected.

a) An additional single point tax was levied on fine and super fine cloth
b) A purchase tax was levied on raw tobacco and sales tax on manufactured tobacco
c) The single point tax was extended to agricultural and other commodities
d) The list of goods subjected to additional single point tax was expanded
e) Certain commodities were added to the list of exempted commodities

In the year 1996 the A.P Rural Development Ordinance Act 1995 (Ordinance no 21 of 1995) has been issued providing for levy of cess for the development of rural areas in the State. The commodities-paddy and cashew nut are made liable to cess at the rate of 5% on the ad valorem on the quantum of their purchase. The said Ordinance was replaced by the A.P Rural Development Act, 1996 (Act no 11 of 1996).