The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) this week notified a new set of rules to crack the whip on goods and services tax (GST) defaulters to boost revenue collection.
Under the new rules, authorities can attach property, bank accounts and cancel registration of taxpayers for not filing GST returns within the specified period.
Earlier this month, the government had set a target of Rs 1.1 lakh crore in GST every month until March.
Tax expert Rohan Shah told CNBC-TV18 that: “This is just a part of the measures of the much larger concern which is revenue shortfall and what has been discussed at the GST Council to ensure that all the leaks in the system are plugged.”
Shah said that it was expected that there would be a greater focus in ensuring compliance, as the government is staring at a shortfall of at least Rs 63,000 in compensation payout to the states during the current financial year.
“This circular refers to the factor of the rights that the department will have in terms of what you might call a habitual offender; somebody who habitually does not comply and file, despite having the ability," Shah added.
“The focus is to ensure compliance and from that perspective such provision have been there before they have been misused and to compel more people to comply in a timely manner, helping them alleviate the burden of revenue shortfall.”
He said that because there was now stricter compliance rules in place, there were chances of greater tax collection.
However, greater compliance may not be translate into revenue, because if the person was just not undertaking enough transactions because the market did not support it, he would not contribute as much revenue as you might expect, Shah explained.
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