Shri Vivek Chaturvedi, Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, (CBIC) along with Shri Sanjay Mangal, Member (GST), CBIC, held an interaction with GST taxpayers and the representatives of trade & industry at Bengaluru today to explain the participants about the GST process reforms and key measures recommended during the 57th meeting of the GST Council.
The interaction was attended by about 250 taxpayers/representatives from across the trade and industry spectrum, including micro, small and medium enterprises, large manufacturers, service providers, traders, exporters, start-ups and e-commerce operators, along with various chambers of commerce and associations including KASSIA, FKCCI, ASSOCHAM, FIEO, CREDAI, BCIC, ICMAI, eMERG and Tax professionals. Ms. Kajal Singh, Chief Commissioner of the Bengaluru CGST Zone, Shri Vipul Bansal, the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Karnataka, and senior officers of Central and State GST administration, were also present during the interaction.
The Chairman, CBIC, stated that GST has evolved as an important tool for achieving the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047. He informed that while the 56th GST Council Meeting focused on rate rationalisation, lowering tax burden across key sectors, it was felt that rate reform alone is not sufficient. To ensure that compliance friction is minimal, pathbreaking process reforms were needed and the GST Council in its 57th meeting has made recommendations for ambitious Next-gen suite of process reforms to ease the burden of honest taxpayers. He stated that bonafide industries must be nurtured and Tax administration must be transformed to be an economic partnership. He also spoke about major recommendations of the GST Council that included withdrawal of provisions of Arrest in GST law, raising the threshold for prosecution, automated system driven refunds, reducing manual touch points, inspection of vehicle only on the basis of specific intelligence that too only in originating and destination states with the authorization by an officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner etc.
He also highlighted the proposed initiative on Centralised Administration of GST Taxpayers who are under the administrative jurisdiction of Central Government and the faceless assessment. He informed the gathering that a draft framework on the said initiative would soon be made available to the stakeholders on public domain for their comments/suggestions.
During the course of the interaction, the Chairman, CBIC, Member (GST), CBIC and the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Karnataka addressed the queries and issues raised by the participants, and provided necessary clarifications. They also welcomed suggestions on further tax reforms put forth by the participants and assured to examine them appropriately.
Representatives of trade and industry welcomed the Council’s decision to decriminalise GST offences, including removal of the power to arrest under the GST law, and acknowledged that the process reforms announced by the 57th GST Council Meeting would build a trust-based tax administration, improve the working capital flow for businesses and contribute tremendously to the overall ease of doing business.
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