The Goods and Services Tax regime has done away with the concept of check posts to allow seamless transport of goods. But the onus is now on the trade to comply with the proper documentation of goods being transported.
The Commercial Taxes Department, which went easy on inspections giving time for the industry and dealers to adjust to the new system and adapt to the required procedures, now decided to check the compliance levels. “We have given enough time for the trade to get accustomed to the GST procedure and recently deployed mobile teams to check the movement of goods with proper documentation in random places. But a surprise ‘Maha Check’ will be conducted soon when goods vehicles will be checked one full night across the State. The objective is to assess if the goods being transported are supported with proper documents,” official sources said.
The GST Act itself has provision for mobile inspection but the Centre decided to give enough time for the trade to adjust to the new tax regime before checking for any evasion.
The State revenues under the GST regime have also been steadily improving every month barring the first month of July when a dip was noticed because many dealers booked their inventory in advance, ahead of the GST roll-out. From August to October in 2016-17, if the VAT revenue was ₹8,365 crore, it touched ₹9,662 crore in the corresponding period in 2017-18 registering a growth of 15%. While the VAT collection in August last financial year was ₹2,799 crore, it rose to ₹.2,958 in the same month this fiscal registering a growth of 5.6 %. Last September, VAT revenue was ₹2,815 crore, this September it was ₹3,228 crore (14.5% growth); Last October - ₹2,750 crore, October this year - ₹3,475 crore (26.3 %). The growth was improving across all components of the GST - SGST, and IGST.
However, after the recent lowering of the GST on 213 items from 28% to 18%t and on some items up to 12% and 5%, there may be some impact on State revenue but it will be temporary as the consumption will increase due to reduced prices, sources said. In Telangana, 90,000 new tax payers have come into the system though the annual turnover to be taxed was increased from ₹7.5 lakh to ₹20 lakh.
‘Pass on benefit’
Chief Commissioner of State Tax V. Anil Kumar has directed the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods companies, distributors and major supermarkets in Twin Cities to revise the MRP on all the products as per the revised Goods and Services Tax (GST) with effect from November 15.
The GST Council in its meeting held on November 10 had reduced the GST rate on goods falling under 178 headings from 28% to 18% leaving only 50 items under the slab rate of 28%.
The tax on many items was also reduced from 18% to 12%, 12% to 5% and these rates should be passed on to the consumers by reducing the prices, he said in a meeting with the representatives of FMCG companies, distributors and supermarkets like More, Reliance, D-Mart, Ratnadeep, Metro, Max Hyper, Spar, Q-Mart etc.