Traders ask for GST ombudsman

New Delhi, June 26: Traders’ body CAIT on Monday demanded setting up of an ‘impartial authority’ like an ombudsman or Lokpal, whom businessmen can voice their grievances related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and seek redressal.

“At present if I have a taxation-related grievance, the appellate authority is also a person who is part of the system. The way there is an ombudsman everywhere else, under GST also there should be a provision for a Lokpal or ombudsman,” Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) secretary general Praveen Khandelwal told reporters here.

“If I have a problem there has to be an impartial authority where I can go and air my grievances,” he added.

Mr Khandelwal said small businesses will face difficulties in complying with the GST due to it being a technology driven taxation system, as 60 per cent of traders have yet to adopt computerisation in their business format.

Terming the GST as a learning process for traders as well as the government, Mr Khandelwal demanded that the government declare first nine months post GST implementation up to March 31 as an interim period, in which there should not be any penal action against traders for ‘procedural lapses leading to noncompliance’.

CAIT also sought the first two years post the GST rollout from July 1 to be declared as a transition period.