As there is hardly a week pending for the roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Revenue Secretary Shri. Hasmukh Adhia said that there will be a leniency in enforcing penal laws for violations during the initial period of implementation of the new indirect tax regime.
He said that there would be a distinction between genuine mistakes in filing of returns and deliberate attempts to evade taxes. “Our intention is to have a smooth landing of GST. Intention is not to harass everyone in the first month,” he said.
The GST, to be launched from 1 July, will unify about a dozen central and state levies like excise duty, service tax and VAT. Indirect tax payers will have to file returns in the new system from next month. The government, Adhia said, will be “very, very kind” to genuine mistakes.
On the power of GST Council to waive interest and penalty, he said, “There would be leniency, but I cannot announce now. The rules provide that the GST council can waive certain requirements for certain time.”
Seeking to dispel the notion that the GST was complicated, he said only one form a month needs to be filed by most taxpayers. Of the 65 lakh taxpayers who have registered with the GST, 70-80% are business-to-consumer (b2c) dealers who have to file just total turnover return, he said, adding that only business-to-business (b2b) dealers have to give invoice-wise details.
“Any technology system can witness short-term breaks. Short-term breaks were there (in the pre-launch period) but we have fixed it,” he said, adding that the problem was the interface between GSTN and Aadhaar e-verification as also the system rejecting applications for registration by people with changed mobile numbers. For registration, e-verification will not be necessary, he said, adding that all operating units have 30 days to register and the window to migrate to the new system will open for the third time within a week.
On the anti-profiteering clause in the GST, Adhia said the measure will be used as a last resort and will not apply on retailers. It is only meant for big manufacturers who do not pass on the benefit of input tax credit to customers in form of lower tax incidence, Adhia said.
