Tax Practitioners Meeting In Ahmedabad To Discuss GST Issues

The two-day tax conclave will be held in Ahmedabad on July 14 & 15. The meeting will be attended by around 200 tax practitioners from over 26 Indian states who will discuss the ongoing issues of Goods and Services Tax (GST). The conclusions and findings of discussions will be then submitted to the GST Council to be considered in the 28th GST meeting scheduled on July 21.

The main objective of the meet is to find ways to simplify things for GST taxpayers. This will be the first time when so many practitioners and stakeholders would meet to discuss and review GST, which was launched a year ago.

“Returns, refunds and recommendations are the main things on our agenda. Participants from almost all the states in the country will share the issues they are facing. This will be a win-win proposition for the government, country’s economy, businessmen and tax practitioners,” said Axat Vyas, an organiser.

Even after completing one year of implementation, GST continues to struggle with many issues like multiple registrations, untimely tax credits, tax evasion, lack of registration, refund delay, problems in return filing and more, which is quite normal for a tax system that probably is the biggest indirect tax reform this country has witnessed till date, Nigam Shah, former president of Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association said.

“For example, GSTR 1 needs to be filed within 10 days, which is mostly impracticable. In Punjab, there are issues of traders getting multiple registrations… Refunds are being issued without verification – a dangerous thing as there could be a mismatch in actual refunds and refunds sought,” he added.

During the conclave, these and several other GST issues would be discussed with the aim to find feasible solutions, which can be then recommended to the GST Council for further consideration.