In a major relief to the consumers, the Central government may soon simplify the application form for the new anti-profiteering body, the watchdog for allegedly denying consumers the benefit of reduced tax burden under the new indirect tax regime.
The present profiteering complaint form, though a single page document, has about 44 columns seeking a number of details and half of these fields are mandatory. In the current form, the consumer has to specify the actual price or value charged per unit pre-GST and the same post GST. Also, the total tax per unit and the reduction in tax amount post GST has to be filled up by the complainant.
Reportedly, the new form will be more consumer- friendly and simpler.
It is learnt that the move to simplify the form comes after the standing committee received numerous representations red flagging the complicated nature of the form, an official said.
As many as 170 complaints have been filed before the standing committee and screening committee by consumers against businesses for not passing on benefits of tax rate reduction since the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1.
Earlier it was reported that with the increase in the complaints received against overcharging of tax under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Finance Ministry may soon come out with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Anti-Profiteering rules for properly handling such cases.
