CBIC’s New Initiative to Enhance Revenue Collections

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has started a new initiative of conducting meetings with state tax administrations officials across the country to improve the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections.

CBIC Chairman Mr Vivek Johri posted on the department’s website that they had already conducted one meeting in Karnataka with the idea of creating a coordinated action plan for revenue augmentation and exploring areas of possible synergies.

He stated that this is a new initiative whereby zonal members would cover all formations in their jurisdictions by holding meetings to create strategies for augmenting GST revenues over the next few weeks. He also stated that greater coordination between central and state agencies for compliance enforcement was possible after the GST rollout due to the unified tax system.

The department started this initiative amid tightening rules: 

• Related to taxpayers’ reporting obligations and
• Relating to officials’ powers to do provisional attachments to protect government revenue.

The GST authorities also extensively use data analytics to detect mismatches and identify wrongdoers.  

The chairman also said they would like to nudge field formations to watch revenue collections, mainly revenue on IGST imports. Although the target may be tough, the chairman is confident of achieving it. Also, zonal commissioners monitor revenue collections daily and make all possible efforts to optimise collections.

CBIC also asked officials to clear pending work in key areas, including investigations and vigilance matters, by 31st March 2022. This new initiative might help the department fill the gap between Central and State officers and curb tax evasion.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please get in touch with the writer at dvsr.anjaneyulu@cleartax.in