The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) will roll out an app to alert officials about timely disposition of tax appeals by tracking all cases under the litigation process, officials said.
What is the app?
Named ‘Samay’, the app will capture all the pending orders across levels from adjudicating officer to the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (Cestat) to High Courts, and reflect the pendency of review orders that are either under process at various levels or awaiting processing at the commissionerate level. The initiative will greatly reduce the litigation time, CBIC officials said.
How will it work?
“Zonal heads can assess how much time their team is taking to dispose of a case and a reminder will be issued every month after that,” a senior official told ET. The app was launched during the National Coordination Meeting held last month and will be formally made available to officials from January 15, officials said. ‘Samay’ will have the summary of all the cases and rulings, which can guide an official regarding the legal position on certain demands.
Why is it important?
When the department raises a claim against a GST payer, the latter can contest the claim at various levels, starting from the adjudicating officer followed by appellate authority (commissioner of appeals) and then can move to tribunals. As of March 31, 2023, there were about 80,000 pending cases in Cestat, with an average pendency of 4-5 years, as per the revenue department. By using ‘Samay’, CBIC aims to expedite the resolution of tax disputes and improve compliance.
What are the benefits of GST?
GST is said to have played a key role in defining India’s economic structure and empowering businesses by subsuming 17 taxes and 13 cesses into a ‘one nation, one tax’ structure. According to Deloitte India, GST has led to an increase in tax base, revenue collections, ease of doing business and digitalisation of tax administration. Some of the statistics and key indicators are:
- Increase in tax base: After its implementation on July 1, 2017, over 38 lakh taxpayers migrated into the GST regime. This number had further increased to more than 64 lakh in September 2017. As on June 30, 2021, there were about 1.31 crore registered taxpayers under GST.
- Revenue collections: While the first nine months of FY 18 saw a revenue collection of ~INR 7.4 lakh crore, FY 19 witnessed healthy growth with the government collecting ~INR 11.7 lakh crore. FY 20 saw a marginal decline in collections due to Covid-19 pandemic with ~INR 11.5 lakh crore collected. However, FY 21 saw a remarkable recovery with ~INR 12.8 lakh crore collected despite lockdowns and disruptions. The monthly GST revenues have been more than INR 1.4 lakh crore for 12 months in a row, with INR 1.6 lakh crore crossed for the second time since inception of GST in September 2023.
- Ease of doing business: GST has simplified the indirect tax system by eliminating multiple taxes and cesses and creating a uniform tax structure across states. It has also reduced compliance costs for businesses by introducing online filing of returns and payments. India’s ranking in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index improved from 130 in 2016 to 63 in 2019.
- Digitalisation of tax administration: GST has brought about a paradigm shift in use of technology to ensure tax compliance. The GST Network (GSTN) is a robust IT platform that handles all aspects of GST administration such as registration, return filing, payment, refund and data analytics. It also provides various services such as e-invoicing, e-way bill, e-kyc and e-assessment to facilitate smooth functioning of GST system.