Page 11 - Banking Finance December 2019

GST UPDATE

GST

NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS

Fin Min holds meeting Fin commission chief calls for changes in GST structure
Finance commission chairman N K Singh has recently called for major changes
on simplification of GST in the GST structure, inclusive of reducing the cumbersome
form and filing compliance procedures and also doing away with frequent
rate changes and to improve collection. He also mentioned
F inance
for a rationalisation in centrally sponsored schemes, and
Minister
Nirmala blamed the government for not clearly defining the role of
the Niti Aayog which, as of now, does not have any powers to
Sitharaman
take financial decisions.
has recently
held meet- The comments from the chief of the commission — which decides on the rev-
ing with enue distribution between the Centre and the states — come amid concerns
about the continuous fall in GST collection that has not touched the targeted
chartered
Rs 1 lakh crore every month, barring one. “If you do not simplify GST, you will
accountants, traders and other
be defeating the very purpose and intention of why we took this far reaching
stakeholders as part of efforts to fur-
step,” Singh said SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar.
ther simplify Goods and Services Tax
(GST) forms and make the filling pro- “The cumbersomeness of compliance is one of the important factors why I be-
cess more user friendly. lieve that there is a huge scope for improving the revenue realisation from GST,”
he added. “Equally, I do believe the frequency with which the rates have been
In order to highlight the problems
changed is unbelievable. You are playing with the rates of taxation, these are
faced by GST filers, the stakeholders serious issues and these are not rates of mutual accommodation,” he added.
attempted to file specific returns on
a real-time basis in the meeting and Amazon, Flipkart avoiding GST: reports CAIT
tried to show where they are facing
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), a traders’ body in a letter to the
difficulties. Finance Minister, appealed to initiate a high-level enquiry to probe the alleged
The finance minister assured the avoidance of due tax liability by ecommerce majors such as Amazon and Flipkart.
stakeholders that their suggestions CAIT has been alleging that these ecommerce companies are involved in un-
on simplification of GST filing will be ethical business practices such as deep discounting, predatory pricing, violation
implemented soon. The minister also of FDI norms, tax evasion, among others.
suggested holding similar exercises in
CAIT informed Sitharaman that both Amazon and Flipkart are selling products
the entire country next month to un-
at a price much lower than fair market value on their online platforms and that
derstand the issues and concerns of
their act is in utter disregard of the provisions of FDI policy of the government
GST filers. causing enormous loss of GST revenue and Income Tax to the Government.

BANKING FINANCE | DECEMBER | 2019 | 11