Page 14 - Banking Finance February 2021

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The Foreign Asset Investigation Units instances where a person has will give J&K's economy a new boost
(FAIUs) have been recently created in successfully undergone Aadhaar and lead the UT towards growth and
all the 14 investigation directorates of authentication, physical verification sustainable development," Sinha said,
the tax department located in various may also be carried out with the adding that the administration is
parts of the country that are primarily approval of an officer, authorised by working on drawing up a long- and
tasked to undertake raids and the Commissioner. short-term strategy for streamlining
seizures, and develop intelligence to The timeline for grant of registration power infrastructure.
check tax evasion done by various in such cases would be 30 days. J&K has earned the first slot on road
methods. connectivity, Sinha said, adding, "In
Under the new arrangement,
A total of 69 existing posts in the tax cancellations would be based on data 2023, people of J&K will travel in metro
department were "diverted" by the analytics and mismatches. for the first time."
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
in November last for the creation of A registration now is also liable for GST receipts hit an all-time
this unit after approval from Union cancellation when the input tax credit
(ITC) is availed of in violation of high of Rs. 1.15 trillion
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman,
a senior officer told. provisions of the CGST Act or the The Goods and Services Tax collections
details of outward supplies in FORM for December 2020 came at Rs
GSTR-1 are in excess of the outward 1,15,174 crore, in the highest ever
In-person verification now supplies declared in FORM GSTR-3B, monthly collection since the new tax
must for GST registration for one or more tax periods. regime was implemented in 2017, the
finance ministry said. The highest
The Finance Ministry has notified new Such cases lead to ITC being passed or
norms for GST registration to help availed of without payment of tax and monthly GST collections before this
check the menace of fake invoices. would, therefore, be liable for was Rs 1,13,866 crore in April 2019,
According to the new norms, if the cancellation. While the cancellation according to government data.
applicant opts for Aadhaar-based proceedings are on, these taxpayers The collections, which were 12%
authentication, the application will be would remain suspended. higher as compared to the last month,
is in line with the recent trend of
followed by biometricbased Aadhaar
authentication and taking photograph. Rs. 28K-crore package for recovery in GST revenues, the finance
In case the applicant does not opt for industries in J&K announced ministry said. In November, the
this, the process involves taking Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant revenues came at Rs 1,04,963 crore.
biometric information, photograph Governor Manoj Sinha announced an Rs GST collections have now come in
and verification of various KYC (Know 28,400-crore Industrial Development excess of the Rs 1-lakh crore mark for
Your Customer) documents. Package-2021 to attract Rs 20,000 three consecutive months.
Authentication will be done at one of crore investments and create 4.5 lakh The finance ministry claimed that the
the facilitation centres notified by the jobs in the Union Territory. uptick in GST collections is a result of
Commissioner. This amendment will economic recovery and compliance
"The Union cabinet sanctioned the
come into effect after facilitation measures undertaken by the
centres are set up on the lines of package on January 6… It will remain government.
passport Seva Kendras or Aadhaar Seva in force for 17 years," he said. "This [highest-ever collections] has
Kendras. The new norms have been The package comes as a big relief for been due to combined effect of the
passed based on the basis of industrialists and will cover the rapid economic recovery post
recommendations of the GST Council's manufacturing and the services pandemic and the nation-wide drive
law committee. sectors, mainly tourism and IT. New against GST evaders and fake bills
entrepreneurs will get investment
The new timeline for grant of alongwith many systemic changes
registration for Aadhaar authenticated incentives in terms of low-interest introduced recently, which have led to
applicant is now seven days. To capital. improved compliance," the ministry
counter cases of fake invoices in "This is a historic industrial package. It said. T

14 | 2021 | FEBRUARY | BANKING FINANCE