Call to exempt livestock medicines from VAT

BY OUR CORRESPONDENT

Biratnagar, April 1: Veterinary medicine retailers have urged the government to exempt the livestock medicines from value added tax.

The participants of the third national convention of the veterinary medicine dealers in Biratnagar said that the VAT imposition on the chemicals used in the food for the domestic animals would hamper the farmers financially.

Advisor to Nepal Livestock Medicine Dealers’ Association Dr. Harsharatna Shakya said that the government imposed various taxes besides VAT on the medicines imported by the veterinary medicine dealers while they exempted the industrialists when they imported the same items. He accused ‘certain industrialists’ of being involved in illegal dealing of those medicines.

General Secretary of the Association Rabindra Bahadur Shrestha appealed to the government to lift taxes on veterinary medicines.

Director of Medicine Management Department Dr. Ashfak Seikh said the veterinary medicine dealers operated their trade without being registered and urged them to get registered. He admitted that there was some confusion about taxing the veterinary medicines due to a lack of clarity of definition.