Centre and states agree to streamline GST to plug revenue leakage

Centre and States have come together to take necessary action to streamline the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system and plug revenue leakage. Several measures were discussed in this regard during the Second National GST Conference of the Commissioners of State Tax and Chief Commissioners of Central Tax in New Delhi yesterday.

They include curbing fraudulent refund claims, linking foreign exchange remittances with IGST refund, investigation of fraudulent Input Tax Credit (ITC) cases by the IT Department and a single bank account for foreign remittance receipt.

The meeting held under the chairmanship of Revenue Secretary Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey decided to constitute a Committee of Centre and State officers to examine and implement quick measures to curb fraudulent refund claims.

The committee will come out with detailed Standard Operating Procedure within a week, which may be implemented across the country by January end.

A Memorandum of Understanding



will be signed among the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the GST Network to exchange data through application program interface, from CBDT to GSTN and CBIC and vice-versa.

The conference was organized to build synergy between the Centre and States and to share their knowledge and best practices with intent to bring about uniformity in tax administrations.

Deliberations were held on a mechanism and machinery for disseminating inter-departmental data among various agencies like  CBDT, CBIC and State Tax Administrations to achieve efficiency in curbing evasion.

Views were also presented on curbing fraud and evasion, checking fake or huge input tax credit claims and seeking bank account details of businesses totally with their filings.

Besides, the meeting also focused on bridging the compliance gap and enhancing revenue.