Haryana GST Circular Mandating Physical Verification of Auto-Approved Registrations Sparks Concerns
A Haryana GST circular mandating physical verification of all auto-approved registrations has raised concerns over its impact on ease of doing business.
A circular issued by the Excise and Taxation Department of Haryana has raised concerns among tax professionals after it directed officers to conduct physical verification of all GST registrations that were automatically approved by the system.
The circular, issued from the department’s head office in Panchkula, instructs field officers to carry out mandatory physical verification (PV) of registrations approved under Rule 9A and Rule 14A. These rules were introduced to allow faster and automated GST registration without much human intervention.
According to the circular, all system-approved registrations must be verified by the jurisdictional tax officers, and the verification status must be updated on the GST portal within the given time limits.
The issue came into public attention after Chartered Accountant Ketan Garg shared the circular on X (formerly Twitter). In his post, he said that the rules were introduced for hassle-free and automated registrations but the new direction for 100% physical verification could defeat that purpose.
Garg also said the move may bring back what many people call “Inspector Raj”, where officers have more direct control in verification process. He expressed concern that it could create possibility of harassment or pressure on businesses, especially small taxpayers.
In the post, he also requested intervention from senior authorities and tagged several officials including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Ministry of Finance, the GST Council, CBIC, GSTN and the Haryana Chief Minister’s Office.
The circular also mentions that during scrutiny some taxpayers were incorrectly assigned to wrong jurisdictions. It directs officials to correct such cases by shifting them to the appropriate district or ward, and cases needing higher approval should be sent to the state admin office.
Authorities may want stricter checks to stop fake GST registrations and tax fraud but mandatory physical verification for all system-approved cases could increase compliance burden for businesses.
The circular has now started a discussion among tax professionals about whether such measures may affect the government’s efforts to improve ease of doing business under the GST system.
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