Bandh call given by CAIT, demands to ease GST filing

It said protests will be held in over 1,500 locations across the counttry demanding streamlining the processes.

Hyderabad: The trader community is miffed with the complex process of filing the GST. Though more than 900 changes have been made so far, the traders say that filing GST is one of the complex process. The compliance burden is taking away the attention of the traders from their core activities. To bring this to the fore, industry body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has given a bandh call on February 26. Traders are being penalised even for minor slips and sometimes their bank accounts are being freezed, it said.

It said protests will be held in over 1,500 locations across the country demanding streamlining the processes. The industry body said it has made several representations to the GST Council, State and Central Governments seeking to ease the process not GST filing, it said. The traders are fearing penalties and interest for mismatches and late filings. Even cases are being foisted against them, it said.

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Several affiliate industry bodies have expressed their support for the bandh call. Telangana Consumer Products Distributors Association president Rajesh Kumar Sarma the current GST is much against the Good and Simple Tax that the government intended it to be. “The GST taxation systems is the most dismal and deteriorating one,” the trader body said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Post Covid, Sarma said, trade is trying to restart and struggling for its survival. There was no big business for last the nine months due to lock down and restrictions brought by the government from time to time. To add to trader the woes, certain notifications issued with regard to compliance have brought the morale of businessman down. Citing two notifications ( 01/2021 and 94 /2020 of the Central Tax), he said businessman are stopped from filing returns or are deprived of input tax credit (ITC) which they have already paid against their inward supplies for not furnishing the return in FORM GSTR-3B for preceding two months. Their number is suspended without an opportunity of hearing, he said.

He said interest and penalty or late fee for the delay can be levied, which the government is already doing. If these new rules are not withdrawn, the trade cycle will fail and this will affect tax collection adversely, he said.

Sarma said the Budget too proposed some changes which go against the spirit of ease of doing business. According to these, if the detail of invoice or debit note has not been furnished by the supplier in GSTR-1, or using IFF/ GSTR-2B, the recipient will not get ITC.

He also pointed out to Amendment to Section 129 (1) that seeks to enhance penalty from 100 per cent to 200 per cent for releasing detained or seized goods. The penalty have to be paid in cash if the traders wants the goods to be released. This will hamper the business and working capital of the assesse. The trader body suggested that 25 per cent of the penalty may be charged on the spot but for the balance the same should be collected only if the assessed loses his case before the higher forum, he said.

The traders body proposed to form a committee consisting of departmental personnel, ministers, trade associations, tax experts so that the GST Act and Rules may be discussed and the changes which are in the interest of ease of doing business can be brought. While stringent action can be taken against those indulging in malpractices, the burden of the same should not be shifted to honest tax payers, he said.

Other key issues

• Formation of National Advance Ruling Authority
• Formation of Appellate Tribunal
• Release of stuck up refunds of pre-GST and post GST period
• Large number of notices are issued from VAT and Service tax departments
• Harassment by investigation agencies, specially DGGI
• Formation of GST Committee at district level
• Sufficient time is not provided with regard to any compliances

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