Madurai Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao along with many top tax officials attended the one-day awareness programme in the city which was organised for the benefit of traders and stakeholders of the GST.
Speaking at the event, the Collector conveyed the message “one nation, one tax and one market” which is said to be the main objective of the Goods and Services Tax. He also requested the state businessmen and traders to join their hands in making this a successful attempt for the growth of the country. The Collector confirmed that over 1250 businesses and individuals in the Madurai region have already registered under GST and more registrations are expected to occur in the coming days.
Madurai Corporation Commissioner S. Aneesh Sekhar also attended the programme and took the opportunity to inform traders of the features of GST and its benefits. Many other tax officials, including M.S. Ponmala, Vijayakumar, V. Pandiraja also answered to a number of questions asked by the event attendees.
Officers confirmed that non-compliance of GST may result in legal consequences, penalties and charges and urged the participants to register themselves under the new tax regime. They also confirmed that many businesses in the state were yet to register under GST.
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Some of the participating traders complained that even many tax officials are not yet fully aware of the changes in the tax system for different products and services. The government has implemented GST, but it is not being applied in a proper and generally acceptable manner.
Officials, however, said that the government had given enough time for businesses to get GST-ready prior to the actual implementation of the new tax system. They hoped that the GST awareness will soon reach to more people resulting in more registrations.
