“We look forward to assisting and facilitating industry in the adoption of GST in all possible ways. CBEC will help industry in the transition to GST and our enforcement machinery will be liberal in enforcement of the panel provisions for the initial three to six months of GST implementation”, said Ms Vanaja N Sarna, Chairperson, Central Board of Excise & Customs. Ms Sarna was delivering the keynote address at the CII Interactive Session on GST with the Ministry of Finance in Delhi.
The CBEC Chairperson further stated that CBEC has left no stone unturned to train all its officers, both in the Centre and at the States, before the introduction of GST. “We have undertaken a large number of awareness campaigns, which have been widely attended and well received by the tax payers. The CBEC has issued FAQs and formulated sectoral groups, some of which have already come out with their reports. We expect all our officers not only to be well conversant in the GST law and rules, but also be ready to handhold industry in the registration and report filing procedures,” she added.
Mr Navin Kumar, Chairman, Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN) stated that out of the 80 lakh existing taxpayers, more than 70 lakh have already signed up for migration under the GST regime. He suggested that industry should make a real time entry of invoices and upload the same on the GSTN utility regularly. Mr Kumar further addressed the myths surrounding GST and clarified that GSTR 1, 2 and 3 are parts of the same return and not separate forms per se. Also, Mr Kumar emphasized that there will not be a regular internet connectivity needed for GST and uploading data is a matter of minutes. The process will be simple, easy to understand and assessee friendly, he stated.
Mr Harishanker Subramaniam, Chairman, CII Core Group on GST congratulated the Government on the successful implementation of GST. “While such a mammoth task is bound to have its share of glitches and concerns, the key to all such issues is the receptiveness of the Government. The Government has been actively encouraging and facilitation people towards the adoption of the biggest tax reform since independence, with an assurance to have a softer approach towards tax payers during the first few months of implementation”, said Mr Subramaniam.
