Against the backdrop of a steep goods and services tax (GST) collection target for 2019-20, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey will hold a day-long meeting with tax commissioners on Tuesday to discuss ways for streamlining the GST system and plugging leakages because of fraud.
Sources said the meeting with state tax commissioners and chief central tax commissioners will deliberate on enhancing GST compliance by plugging loopholes and discouraging tax evaders and those gaming or misusing the system.
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The meeting assumes significance as the GST Council in its last meeting held on December 18 wanted a detailed study on these issues before taking any call on a rate hike.
Even as the GST collection crossed Rs 1-trillion mark for the second month in a row in December, the receipts were nowhere near Rs 1.10 trillion required every month from December onwards to meet the target for 2019-20. At least in one of the four months, the GST collection must reach Rs 1.25 trillion.
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The sources said this multi-faceted brainstorming meeting is being organised with the purpose of curbing fraud and evasion, checking fake or huge input tax credit claims, seeking bank account details of businesses to tally with their filings, stopping misuse of refund, and sharing best practices in revenue augmentation.
The discussions will focus on the road ahead with e-invoicing, new return system and feedback, e-way bill linking with FASTag, pendency of refunds, linkage of Aadhaar number to GST registration, enforcement module use without overreach, and QR code, they said.
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A detailed review of further use of data analytics and artificial intelligence in the process of enforcement and flagging tax evaders and fake refund claimants will also be taken up to augment revenue and better compliance without overreach, the sources said.
This meeting will also be attended by senior officers of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Directorate General of Analytics and Risk Management and the GST Network.
Targeted approach to stop tax evasion without any overreach or harassment to the genuine taxpayer will be deliberated with field officers concerned and also the enforcement wings, they added.
Source : Business Standards
