New Delhi, Jul 1 () Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday asked GST officers to foresee the issues faced by domestic businesses and address them proactively to help them compete globally and build a self-reliant India.
In a message to tax officers on the third anniversary of the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Sitharaman also said there is scope for easing compliance further for taxpayers, especially MSMEs, and simplifying tax administration for making it easier to do business.
Asking taxmen to focus on the clarion call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', she said the GST administration will have a large role to play for this motto of self-reliance.
"We must foresee the issues faced by our business community and proactively address the same to enable them to compete on a global scale. Only by this proactivity can we ensure much needed economic growth in near future," she said in her message on the occasion of GST Day 2020.
GST, which subsumed over a dozen local taxes, was introduced on July 1, 2017. Since then, the GST process has been simplified and return filing made easier, especially for small businesses.
The GST administration has also introduced an SMS-based return filing system for 'nil' filers.
Sitharaman said more efforts are required to ease compliance further for taxpayers, adding that the government is committed to continuing these reforms in the future.
"We must strive to make the tax administration so simple that taxpayers find it easy to comply with all their tax obligations. This is the true essence of 'ease of doing business' as far as tax administration is concerned," she said.
Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, in his message, said much more still needs to be done for simplification of tax administration and easing compliance.
"Return filing process needs to be made easier and processing of return and allowing input tax credit needs to be made faster. More handholding of the trade by GST officers is required," Thakur said.
Sitharaman also said the COVID-19 pandemic has led to some disruptions in economic activities in the country and congratulated the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and its officers for handholding taxpayers during this crucial time and disbursing record amount of refunds to ease their cash flow.
CBIC Chairman M Ajit Kumar, in a virtual departmental GST Day programme, emphasised on assisting taxpayers and reaching out to them to resolve their grievances. JD ABM ABM