GST Council sets up a committee to boost revenue

Source: businesstoday.in

On Thursday, amidst the failing Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues, the GST Council Secretariat set up a panel of Central and State tax officers to suggest “a wide range of reforms” to boost GST collection. The main focus for the 12-member committee will be improving compliance under the indirect tax regime, suggesting steps to check evasion, and clamping down on misuse.

The move to look for measures to boost GST revenue comes as gross monthly collections dipped to a 19-month low to ₹91,916 Crore in September. The GST Council Secretariat which is the administrative body behind the GST Council, said in a notification, “With the approval of the competent authority, it has been decided that a committee of officers be constituted to suggest measures to augment GST revenue.”

The notification further added that the committee of the officers from the Centre and the States is required to suggest steps to be taken to improve revenue collection. Furthermore, the committee is required to submit its first report within 15 days of the notification to the GST Council Secretariat which will then coordinate the meeting of the committee to ensure the finalization of the inception report.

The panel is tasked to look into, but not be limited to, measures to expand the tax base, system changes in GST, including checks and balances to prevent misuse, measures to improve voluntary compliance, measures to improve compliance monitoring and anti-evasion measures based on data analytics, policy measures and any other relevant changes needed in the law, and better administrative coordination.

In addition to, officials from the Centre and GST Network (GSTN), the committee includes officials from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and West Bengal. Any other state can willingly join the committee by writing to the GST Council Secretariat.