Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised an Interactive Session on “GST Amnesty Scheme 2024 and other Important Issues”, today at Conference Hall of the Chamber.
Shri Shrawan Kumar, IRS, Chief Commissioner, CGST & CX, Kolkata Zone addressed at the Session as Chief Guest.
Shri Manoj Kumar Kedia, IRS, Principal Commissioner, Kolkata North, CGST & CX, Kolkata Zone and Shri Satyajit Singh, IRS, Commissioner, Kolkata South, CGST & CX, Kolkata Zone joined the Session as Guest of Honours.
Shri Amarendra Narayan, IRS, Commissioner Howrah, Shri Prakash Borgohain, IRS, Additional Commissioner, Kolkata North, CGST & Kolkata Zone and Shri Sanjay Bangartale, IRS, Additional Commissioner, Kolkata South, CGST & CX, Kolkata Zone were the Special Guests at the Session.
In his address, Shri Shrawan Kumar explained that Government has introduced GST with objective of have a uniform tax code for a product or service across the country. It also simplifies tax administration and compliance laws. It facilitates the development of uniform tax law while removing cumbersome, time-consuming tax filing processes and encourages Ease of Doing Business.
He informed that Central has already hosted 55 GST council meetings to make GST law simple transparent and easy.
Shri Kumar said that in last Union Budget, GST has witnessed both short-term and long term changes, Section 11(A) and Section 74(A) has introduced.
While discussing about these sections, he highlighted that, under Section 11(A) the traders are not subjected to undue pressure in case of inadvertent non-payment of GST due to normal business practices, on the other hand under Section 74(A), it attempts to standardise the timeframe for issuing notice, tax demand, and penalty relief for any due tax liability irrespective of fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts.
Shri Kumar pointed out that Government is ready to implemented Amnesty scheme and requested the industries to implement this scheme before 31st March to get benefit.
Shri Santosh Saraf, Past President, MCCI in his Welcome Address said that the tax reform measures witnessed record GST collections on a month-on-month basis, indicating not only improvement in economic activity but also in efficiency of the measures to plug revenue leakages. The monthly revenue collection of Rs. 1.7 lakh crore plus has become the new normal in this 7th year. West Bengal, being a destination state, has benefitted financially from imposition of GST. The State is among the Top Ten states regarding GST collection across the country.
Shri Saraf spoke about the issues that taxpayers from the industry, trade and business are faced at the initial stages. There are several burning issues still prevalent, which need to be addressed and a plethora of doubts, asking for clarifications. He expressed that the Chamber has been writing to the authorities regarding review and revision of GST rates on several items. However, recommendations from Chamber were accorded priority, on several occasions.
The Session was concluded with hearty Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri Vivek Jalan, Co-Chairman, Council on GST, Indirect & States Taxes, MCCI.