5,101 officers trained in GST laws and 6,710 on GSTN, help desks formed to settle issues
The Maharashtra government is all set to shift to the Goods & Services Tax (GST) regime from July 1 by laying focus on training of personnel, awareness and outreach meetings with traders, establishment of sectoral working groups, and upgradation of the information technology backbone.
So far, 5,101 officers and staff of the Maharashtra Sales Tax Department have been trained on GST laws while the hands on training on Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN) was given to around 6,710 officers and staff through computer labs established all across the state. This apart, 102 master trainers will hold a two-day refresher course for all the department staff till June 30.
The department emphasised on conducting awareness and outreach meetings in a bid to explain GST laws and its implementation procedure in details. Till date, 379 such meetings for tax payers and sales tax practitioners have been held. The department has also held interactions with various trade organisations for the same.
As far as automation for GST migration is concerned, the department on its portal www.mahavat.gov.in has already made available provisional ID and access token (temporary password) of 7,78,040 active dealers. Of these, a total of 7,41,991 (95 per cent) dealers have already activated their accounts on the GST portal www.gst.gov.in. About 36,059 dealers are yet to create provisional IDs.
The department official told DNA, "The dealers will have to activate their account on the GST portal using their provisional ID and access the token provided by the department. Then he has to file an online GST enrollment application form along and upload the supporting documents. Once filled, he has to submit the form either with the Aadhaar-linked digital signature certificate or electronic verification code. This completes the migration procedure.''
The department is also taking the help of 'Aaple Sarkar E-Seva Kendra' to provide different compliance related services to the taxpayers in the GST regime. The e-seva kendra will aid in filing GST enrollment application in case of existing taxpayers and GST registration application for new taxpayers. The e-seva kendras will be activated for these services very soon.
The department has additionally set up a centralised help desk to resolve the queries of tax payers with an objective of providing a one-stop solution for all IT and business process-related queries and grievances. About 45 help desks have been created across the state to provide assistance for GST compliance.
A joint working group of officers comprising state VAT Department, and the Central Board of Excise and Customs has been formed to finalise the joint action programmes and find working solutions.
State Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said the state will benefit with the introduction of GST and help boost the growth of the state's economy.
...& ANALYSIS
- The Maharashtra government is optimistic that the shift to the GST regime will help achieve double-digit growth of the state economy. The govt has undertaken a slew of steps to educate sales tax and VAT department officials, and also dealers, to simplify its implementation. It has opened help desks across the state to address initial hiccups. Attention has been paid on upgradation of information technology to make payments and recovery hassle free.
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