The GST taxation scheme would be changing the names of the upper-level department upon its arrival, as the newly suggested name of the department of central excise, customs and service tax can be considered as a department of GST and customs in the direction of the merging department of GST and customs.
And the audit commissioners will be having the powers to judge the cases which will come under GST structure. The powers which will be under the hand are adjudicated confiscation, the penalty imposed on tax defaulters and in cases involving a sum of more than Rs 1.50 crore will rest with audit commissioners. The below amount as mentioned will be dealt with assistant commissioners.
Related: GST Suvidha Providers to Assist Taxpayers in GSTN
The officials in this regard said that “This implies that commissioners (audit) will be the judge of their own actions which is against natural justice, a department official said wishing anonymity.”
“Till now, audit commissioners raise objections, recommend penalty against businessmen who don’t pay full taxes. Under the new system, they will decide the appeals of businessmen against whom they had raised an objection with regard to tax payment. This will create a crisis of confidence in parties (businessmen) as they will not expect a fair judgment while filing appeals,” official added.
“Under the new system, audit commissioners will also adjudicate the show cause notices which are issued for demanding duty short paid or non-paid or erroneously refunded under Section 11A of Central Excise Act, 1944,” the official said.
Read Also: GST Impact on E-commerce Sector in India
The government has taken this decision to create a quick discharge of issues and to reduce the number of backlog appeals which is a major tendency of many judiciary departments are processing at a slow rate.
The states and officials are not commenting anything regarding the decision as the GST itself is a new subject of matter and the new revisions and reformation are part of this program while including new rules and regulation.