As the government's service tax amnesty scheme is fast approaching its end, tax evaders are in a rush to avail the rare opportunity and clear their taxes without facing any prosecution.

The Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme (VCES) was announced by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the budget 2013-14 to encourage tax evaders to clear their dues. The scheme is scheduled to end on Dec. 31.

According to officials from the service tax department, nearly 6,821 peoples filed applications with tax implications worth more than Rs 957 crore from December 17 to December 23. The department received the highest number of number of applications for clearing tax dues during the second week of last month.

Between December 10 and December 16, the department received nearly 3,300 applications; while the total number of applications filed by December 23 stood at 21,685 with tax implication of more than Rs 3,761 crore

Speaking on the topic, one of the officials from the service tax department said, "We expect it to cross Rs 4,000 crore easily by December 31 when the scheme ends."

The tax amnesty scheme offers an opportunity for self-declaration and payment of service tax dues from October 1, 2007 to December 31, 2012. Defaulters can declare their dues and pay half of the total amount by the end of this month. The remaining 50 per cent is payable without interest by June 30, 2014 and with interest by December 31, 2014.