The GST Investigation wing of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs offers with coverage points regarding enforcement actions comparable to search, seizure, prosecution and arrest. Photo: Twitter/@cbic_india
With Parliament clearing the decks for the institution of Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal to resolve rising disputes beneath the almost six-year-old oblique tax regime, the Revenue Department is within the course of of finalising a normal working process (SOP) for officers endeavor intelligence and investigation work.
“With the legal landscape of indirect taxes getting transformed, the need arises to prepare a comprehensive manual and we are working out a codified set of instructions for officers to follow so as to minimise fresh disputes,” a high authorities official advised The Hindu.
Legal challenges
The GST Investigation wing of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), which offers with coverage points regarding enforcement actions comparable to search, seizure, prosecution and arrest, is drafting the guide. It will embrace numerous SOPs and directions for area formations to abide by, and might be revealed shortly, the official mentioned.
Over the previous couple of years, whereas the federal government has taken a number of steps to clamp down on tax evasion, the quantity of authorized challenges mounted by taxpayers in numerous High Courts and the apex courtroom have additionally been rising, within the absence of the devoted GST Tribunal that have been envisaged for the reason that GST regime’s launch in July 2017.
Tech framework wanted
“There will be sudden rush in filing of appeals once the tribunal is set up, and hence, a careful deliberation on investigation processes and the appellate bodies’ functioning, will help all stakeholders,” mentioned Abhishek A. Rastogi, founder of Rastogi Chambers.
“It is hoped that this code will move ahead with a technology framework also and there will be clear guidelines for online filings, virtual hearings, online submissions, virtual tracking of matters, and transparency in listing,” he emphasised, noting {that a} pragmatic code will definitely assist litigants.
Between April 2021 and November 2022, over 21,500 circumstances of GST evasion have been booked by the income authorities, entailing an quantity of virtually ₹1.5 lakh crore. Of this, about ₹46,200 crore was realised and over 470 folks have been arrested.
