THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the flood cess comes into effect from today in Kerala, reports suggest that many big shots are trying to overcome it through shortcuts.

As per reports, some suggest that the flood cess can be avoided during the purchase of expensive goods by providing an address out of state. Another trick employed by many is by providing a GST number which suggests that the buyer is not the final customer. This is because the government has excluded the business-to-business category from flood cess. Thus a buyer can evade flood cess even when he buys goods from outside Kerala thereby encouraging more people to buy from outside Kerala and eventually causing loss to the State’s finance.

Though cess is applicable to only those products with more than 5% GST, those purchasing gold will also have to pay a cess of 0.25% which is a considerable amount considering the high price of gold. As a matter of fact, flood cess is believed to have a serious impact on the lives of the common man.