Tax practitioners raised issues of the late issue of refunds, registration and those with GST Network (GSTN) during the interaction.
There are no orders to stop refunds under Goods and Services Tax (GST), officials of Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST) said on Tuesday at an Open House with tax professionals organised by Tax Advocates Association of Gujarat (TAAG). Tax practitioners raised issues of the late issue of refunds, registration and those with GST Network (GSTN) during the interaction.
“There are no orders to stop refunds (as the financial year is coming to an end). We are disposing requests of refunds at the earliest. We will take no more than a week to clear the refunds,” Ajay Jain, chief commissioner of CGST in Gujarat. Officials replied to the volley of complaints by tax practitioners saying that certain officials have told them that as the financial year is coming to an end, there are work pressures and so the activity of issuing refunds has been derailed. Moreover, refunds are not issued to maintain revenue numbers, an argument Jain outrightly rejected.
Varis Isani, former president of TAAG and coordinator of the Open House drew the attention of the officials to the fact that sequence of GST refunds has been revised from February 1 onwards, but GSTN has not been upgraded and so departments should not issue notices later on for the fault of the system. Tax practitioners urged SGST authorities to release refunds on the lines of CGST, even though purchases may not be reflected in GSTR-2A, filed by the seller, but the buyer has bills and other legal proofs to claim a refund. Ajay Kumar, special commissioner of SGST said that the Open House will help authorities to understand issues faced at grass-root level and the issues related to policy and GSTN will be referred to appropriate authorities.
TAAG also suggested an amnesty scheme to dispose of pending disputes under previous Value Added Tax (VAT), which was subsumed under GST. It also sought a fortnight-long campaign to redress grievances of business. Over 450 tax practitioners from across the state participated in the Open House.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Open House organised by TAAG")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}