GST manual to streamline returns in Haryana released
GURUGRAM: Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, who also holds the portfolios of excise and taxation, launched the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Scrutiny Manual and issued standard operating procedures (SOP) to streamline the scrutiny of GST returns on Tuesday.
According to officials, the manual simplifies several other tax procedures besides that of GST, which will help increase the efficiency of GST officers.
The SOP aims to ensure that interactions with taxpayers be kept minimal during the scrutiny of digital signature certificates, goods and service tax network, demand and recovery form, reverse charge mechanisms, etc. The SOP directs that officials use existing data, including e-way slips and data from Goods and Services Tax Identification Number (GSTIN). This has replaced the Tax Identification Number (TIN) allotted to businesses by state tax authorities to register under the VAT (value-added tax) system for this purpose, which will be updated and shared with filed officials by deputy excise and taxation officers from time to time. Officials will have to focus on input tax credit (the credit that a manufacturer has received for having paid taxes towards raw material used in the manufacture of goods and products) filed by the companies to ensure there no revenue loss to the department.
Chautala said that the government released the manual to simplify several procedures to make it easier for all officers to understand and implement as well as make the process easy and transparent so that there is no harassment and corruption in any of their offices. He said that they have decided on changes in the functioning of the workflow and in the process. “We have received several complaints against GST officials saying they were harassing businessmen by visiting their premises again and over again. From now , an officer who wants to visit an office, industry or any other location for work, will have to take permission of a deputy excise and taxation officer for the same, else strict action will be taken against the official,” he said.
The deputy CM also said that the government will reward deserving officials.
“We will reward the officials for their work and dedication. Anyone who identifies tax fraud and brings revenue to the department will be rewarded. A deputy excise and taxation officer will be rewarded ₹2.5 lakh, an excise taxation officer with ₹1.25 lakh, and the assistant excise and taxation officer will be rewarded ₹50,000 quarterly for monitoring taxes and following all procedures and saving state from revenue losses,” he said.
The department has also created a dashboard to monitor all the processes, said officials.
Officials of the excise and taxation department will soon be trained by experts from different countries in four batches and a three-day seminar will be organised for them, said officials.
Chautala said that the state’s taxation department earned a revenue of ₹35,000 crore this year, an increase ₹4,000 crore over last year’s revenue of ₹31,000 crore despite several challenges and Covid-19 restrictions.
“Our target is to make ₹40,000 this year and this is only possible if GST is recovered on time. The teams need to monitor the pending taxes and should make efforts to get hold of people who claim GST by creating falscompanies and register fraud cases against them,” he said.