The cabinet approved the project SAKSHAM, which is said to be the new indirect tax network (systems integration) of the CBEC. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared a Rs 2,256 crore IT project Saksham of the Central Board of Excise and Customs, which will help in the implementation of the GST and integrate CBEC’s system with the GSTN by the GST rollout deadline i.e April 2017.
The Main Highlighting Significance of the Project ‘SAKSHAM’ are:
- Expansion of the Indian Customs Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT)
- Implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST),
- Ease of Doing Business of Central Board of Excise and Customs and taking important initiatives under Digital India
It is important for the implementation of the GST as the project will ensure the work of the CBEC’s IT systems before the deadline. The necessary upgrades will be carried out while maintaining the pace with the existing Tax-payer services in the country.
After the rollout of GST law, all importers/exporters/taxpayers administered by the CBEC will go over 65 lakhs from the existing figure of about 36 lakhs.
The CBEC’s IT systems will be eventually integrated with the Goods & Services Tax Network (GSTN) for payment and returns, registrations, GSTN Data transfer to CBEC, and other modules such as Investigation, Audit, and Appeal. No chances of overlap in the CBEC and GSTN.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the integration of the GSTN under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to roll out the goods and services tax (GST) in a better way. The 2,256 crores worth of Project Saksham will be incurred for a period of seven years.
The integration of CBEC’s existing IT systems with the GST Network will ensure the stable functioning of the GST regime in the country. The integration will be helpful in accomplishing various GST related services such as payment and returns of data sent by GSTN to CBEC, processing registration.
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An official release states, “Project Saksham will help in the implementation of GST, an extension of the Indian Customs Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade and other taxpayer-friendly initiatives under Digital India and ease of doing business.”
For the continuation of CBEC’s e-Services in Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax, implementation of tax¬payer services, the IT infrastructure is required for accomplishing several tasks like scanning document, uploading, an extension of Indian Customs Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) initiative and collaboration with government-aided initiatives such as e-sign, E-Taal, E-Nivesh, etc.