Conveying the message that Goods and Services Tax has been launched with the objective of “one nation, one tax and one market”, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao on Tuesday urged the trade and industry to cooperate and make it a successful one for the country’s economy.
Speaking at a one-day awareness programme organised for different stakeholders of the GST, top officers from Central Excise and State Commercial Taxes Departments explained the nuances of the GST.
The Collector said that so far, over 1250 new registrations on GST had been received in Madurai and expected more to follow in the coming days.
Corporation Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar, who was formerly serving as Joint Commissioner (Commercial Taxes) in Coimbatore also disseminated the features of GST and how the people could derive benefit. The officials from the Commercial Taxes department, including Joint Commissioners Vijaykumar, M.S. Ponmala and others, and V. Pandiraja from the Central Excise department answered to a volley of questions from the participants.
While the officers admitted that many eligible traders were yet to come under the GST net and implement the taxes, they also said that non-compliance of the new tax regime may lead to legal consequences and sought the cooperation for its implementation.
The traders charged that many tax officials themselves were not sure about the changes in the tax net for many products/services. The government had shown interest in the GST, but the manner in which it is being executed had raised doubts.
However, officials said that enough time had been given prior to the implementation from July 1 and hoped that such awareness meets would bring the much needed clarity.