Govt promises simplification of returns, helplines for complaints

FM PIYUSH GOYAL INSISTED ON A BILL FOR EVERY PURCHASE

NEWDELHI: More power to consumers, a simplified process and more assessees — these were the main successes of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) highlighted by finance minister Piyush Goyal, Union minister Arun Jaitley and finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia, as the government celebrated July 1 as ‘GST Day’.

“The biggest advantage of GST is for the consumer who now knows exactly how much tax he or she has paid for a product or a service,” said Goyal at a government organised GST Day celebrations in the capital that also saw interactions with industry bodies on the one-year experience of the landmark indirect tax reform.

Goyal also highlighted the role of consumers in curbing GST evasion; insisting on a bill for every purchase, he said, would help the government check evasion and reduce the tax rate on each item by as much as 4-5% over time.

He further said the government would launch a consumer helpline number for lodging complaints.

“If everyone starts giving bills, then competition will be on quality and customer service and not on the ability to cheat the system,” the finance minister said.

Goyal said that the government will focus on the simplification of the filing process and urged finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia to look into the option of allowing assessees availing the composition scheme to file returns yearly, instead of quarterly.

Small and medium enterprises can opt for composition scheme that entails a 1% tax for traders and manufacturers and 5% for restaurants.

Simplification of GST returns has been a constant demand from traders. “Returns should be quaterly and refunds automatic. A helpline should be launched for traders to lodge their queries and complaints,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of Confederation of All India Traders.

Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, both Goyal and Union minister Arun Jaitley spoke about the advantages of GST in widening the tax base.

“The tax base has increased and as the collection goes up so will the capacity to rationalise the tax rates. And once you have a more efficient tax system the instances of evasion will automatically go down,” said Jaitley, who joined the interaction through video conferencing. The GST regime was launched under Jaitley’s leadership when he was finance minister.

GST collections rise to ₹95,610 crore in June

NEW DELHI: GST revenue mop-up rose to ₹95,610 crore in the month of June, as against ₹94,016 crore in the previous month, finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Sunday. In April 2018, the collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) were over ₹1.03 lakh crore. “It’s (₹1 lakh crore) not the norm still. We hope to bring it (GST revenue) to the level of ₹1 lakh crore (every month),” Adhia said while addressing the GST-DAY celebrations here. He said the average monthly collection in the previous fiscal has been ₹89,885 crore. Adhia also said if bogus bills are not issued, then revenues would improve further in the coming months. The finance secretary also acknowledged the efforts of stakeholders, officers and businesses in making the Goods and Services Tax, which was rolled out on July 1 last year, a success.