SRINAGAR: As Part of outreach initiative of Union Ministry of Finance, the Central GST and Income Tax departments organized joint programmes at Kulgam, Shopian, Anantnag and Kupwara districts.
The initiative is aimed at reaching out to representatives of small and medium industries, business professionals, local business bodies and associations, start-ups, women entrepreneurs and others to collect feedback on budget expectations and other aspirations.
The programmes witnessed enthusiastic participation of all stake holders.
Joint Commissioner, CGST, Vivek Gupta, gave a brief introduction about GST explaining that rollout of GST in 2017 was a major reform wherein cascading effect of the taxes was mitigated. Under the initiative, many of the state and central taxes (C. Ex. Duty, ST, VAT, Purchase Tax, Entry Tax Luxury tax etc) subsumed into one tax, i.e., GST and now it is One Nation One Tax as tax is levied on supply of goods or services at a uniform rate throughout the country, he maintained.
He informed that there are Nil GST rates or low rates for goods required for basic consumption such as grains, salt, jaggery, vegetables, fruits and related items. To ensure transparency and accountability, every communication sent by the Central Tax officers to the taxpayers has a system generated Document Identification Number (DIN), he informed.
Deputy Commissioner, Daanish Inder Singh Gill, Assistant Commissioners, Amandeep Talwar and Ravikesh Tripathi elaborated various aspects of GST like composition levy scheme, e-invoicing, benefits for MSMEs, amnesty schemes, relaxation in compliances, Budgetary Support Scheme and COVID relief measures. They also shared contact details and useful link to CBIC website with the trade.
Later, traders were invited to express their grievances and demands regarding GST reforms.
The trade associations raised their concerns like difficulties encountered in filing various returns on the GST Portal and requested for organizing more awareness programmes about GST and Income tax, in which people should be taught about TDS, GST Returns, IT Returns etc. They also demanded a suitable time window beyond due date of filing of returns, free of late fee, in view of internet connectivity issues in Kashmir.
Joint Commissioner, CBDT, Rajiv Gubgotra, informed the traders about various reforms of Income tax like faceless assessment of income tax returns, introduction of new format of income tax portal to make it more user friendly and several other related measures. He also addressed the grievances of the participants regarding TDS, IT returns filing.
The Trade association thanked the Union Finance Minister for providing them a platform to express their concerns and demands for GST reforms and Income tax related issues.
