MEETING ON CGST STRUCTURE IN CBIT
TODAY, MEETING ON GST ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE CBIT HAS TAKEN PLACE, ALL THE CHIEF COMMISSIONERS/DGS ARE INVITED TO BOARD OFFICE NEW DELHI. THE PPT WHICH WAS IN CIRCULATIONS IS TAKEN FOR DISCUSSIONS.
THE INTERVENTION FROM ALL THE STAFF ASSOCIATIONS IS HIGHLY REQUIRED BEFORE TAKING ITS NEW SHAPE.
ABOLITION OF THE LTU AND CREATIONS OF MORE AUDIT COMMISSIONERATES AS WELL AS COMMISSIONER (APPEALS) ARE IN THE CARDS.
OTHER INFORMATIONS OBTAINED FROM SOURCES ARE AS UNDER:-
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CBEC overhaul likely to administer GST from April 1,2017.
The Government is likely to overhaul the central board of excise and customs’(CBEC) organizational structure to administer the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated-GST (IGST) from April 1, the appointed date for rolling out the goods and service tax (GST) regime.
Under the CBEC, it is proposed to create one GST commissionerate each for 15,000-20000 assesses and Rs.5,000 Crore revenue. In all, it is proposed, there would be 24 Zones, 107 commissionerate, 53 commissioner (appeals) and 535 GST divisions across the country. Currently, there are separate structures for the central excise and service tax administration, with 23 excise zones and 4 service tax zones. The distinctions would cease to exist when GST comes into force next year.
Even though no additional posts need to be created now, it has proposed to match the existing manpower with the future requirement. While GST Commissionerates would look after CGST and IGST work, they will also handle the exclusive central excise work as well as legacy issues.
A directorate general for dispute resolution has been proposed too, while specialized adjudication verticals have been suggested in seven major cities.
From Sources
GST - Central Revenue Officers Protest
STAFF Associations of CBEC recently met in Mumbai and passed many resolutions on GST. Their grievances included:
1. Failure to take into confidence the Staff Associations in CBEC on Organizational Structure & HR issues.
2. Service Tax [Services above threshold level falling within GST] Administration to be in the exclusive domain of the Centre.
3. Audit, Preventive/Anti Evasion & Intelligence to be exclusively handled by the Central Government.
4. Dual Control of the Centre & States [For Goods] across the Spectrum.
5. Human Resource & Organizational Matters to be finalized with the consent of all associations in CBEC.
The Associations propose:
A Lunch Hour Demonstration in front of all Commissionerates & a lunch hour gathering in front of the Residence of the Finance Minister to hand over a memorandum containing Grievances on the 14th of October 2016followed by one more on the 9th of November 2016, Black Badges on the 7th of December 2016, day long dharna on the 5th of January, 2017 and finally Mass Casual Leave by all employees on the day the Union Budget is presented.
The meeting was attended by Indian Revenue Service [Indirect Taxes] officers' Association; All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers; All India Appraising Officers' Federation; All India Central Excise Inspectors' Association; All India Central Excise & Service Tax Ministerial Officers Association; All India Central Excise & Customs Gr. C Drivers' Federation; All India Central Excise & Customs Gr.C [Non Ministerial] Officers Association, according to R. Chandramouli, President, All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers.
From Taxindiaonline
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Tuesday, October 4, 2016
STRONG CENTRE... STRONG WORKFORCE...
All the Chief office bearers of Staff Welfare Associations of Group A, B, & C (inclusive of Ministerial staff and Drivers) attended the first Steering Committee Meeting hosted by CESA-Mumbai on 01/10/2016. In the meanwhile, the first GST Council Meeting was held, wherein the threshold limits and the manner of administering Service Tax by the Center, along with other issues were decided.
On being aggrieved, the All India Confederation of Commercial Tax Associations (AICCTA) passed a 7 Point Resolution and threatened to go on indefinite strike on 15-Oct-2016. They have demanded in their resolution, that Service Tax assesses with a turnover limit of 1.5 Crores should be administered by them. The Second meeting of the GST Council was held on 30-Sep-2016. In the meeting the demand of the state Confederation was raised by a few state finance ministers demanding the Service Tax assesses for GST instead of SGST. Draft Rules of SGST is also in circulation.
CESA-Mumbai feels that this is not the appropriate time to analyse the rules in draft form, about the financial implications and workload arising due to issuance of Show Cause Notices and disposal upto 10 Lakhs, Suppression of facts, Periodical Show Cause Notices, etc. The motto of the employees of CBEC, irrespective of the Cadre, from top to bottom, is not only to safeguard the assessee base but also to enhance the base. It was appealed in the meeting to all the office bearers to be united, giving the example of the Ambani Brothers, as both the brothers have now joined their hands together to capture the market keeping all their egos and differences aside, which the Late Dhiru Bhai Ambani, failed in his entire life time. Similarly, we all should unanimously, not only raise our voices but also be ready to take the cause even to the streets, if the situation compels. It was also unanimously approved, that all of us being financial soldiers, we should not allow the Center to become week, but strive to make it stronger, such that every citizen of the country should be able to proudly say that the Center is strong ,transparent and solvent.
It will not be out of place to mention that the States have kept Alcohol and Tobacco out of the ambit of the GST. Definitely, it is neither in the interest of the nation nor for the growth of the economy, but allegedly meant for the enrichment of a handful of people.
The resolutions passed by the Steering Committee is annexed. In a nutshell we demand :-
1 1. Dual Control of the Center and the States (for Goods) across the spectrum.
2. Service Tax Administration to be in the exclusive domain of the Center
3. Audit, Preventive/ Anti-evasion and intelligence to be exclusively with the Center
4. Human Resources and all Organizational matters should be finalized with the
consent of all Staff Associations in CBEC, etc.
5. No deputations of officers shall be considered from the Center to the States
5. No deputations of officers shall be considered from the Center to the States
A wide awareness is to be created in the social media, about the misconceptions spread by the media who are constantly maligning our Department with a vested interests. Few retired officers, who have served in the Department in almost all positions & capacities, and have never raised their voice against the irregularities and unjust practices, followed in the Department, but now are very vocal about the same !! Maybe, they have a strong desire to continue to remain in the limelight. CESA-Mumbai strongly condemns the actions of these officers.
The Center has announced that the next GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held on 18th & 19th Oct-2016. If our just demands are not being considered, then we all should agitate on 14th Oct., at all the Hqrs. offices, across the country and a delegation should gather before the Honorable FM’s residence and submit a memorandum listing our just demands. Further developments and details about the Agitational Program will be decided & conveyed by the Steering Committee.
STEEERING COMMITTEE OF ASSOCIATIONS IN CBEC ON GST
Comprising of:
1. IRS (IDT) Officers’ Association
2. All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers
3. All India Appraising Officers’ Federation
4. All India Central Excise Inspectors’ Association
5. All India Central Excise & Service Tax Ministerial Officers’ Association
6. All India Central Excise & Customs Gr. C Drivers’ Federation
7. All India C. Excise & Customs (Gr.C Non-Ministerial) Officers’ Association
Mumbai, 01 October 2016.
To
Sh. Arun Jaitley,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
Government of India.
Respected Sir,
On the verge of the biggest fiscal reform in independent India in the form of Goods and Service Tax, that envisages ‘one Nation, one tax’, these associations representing the torch bearers of the reforms, viz. the employees and officers of the Indirect Tax Department of the Union, in their meeting held on 01st October 2016, had a detailed deliberation on the development on GST (as has been gleaned from information available in the public domain till date).
The general mood of the house represented the apprehension and aspiration of the employees and officers. The main concern of the meeting revolved around the moot point of ‘one Nation, one tax’ vis-à-vis the reports wherein it appears that such unity of purpose is being compromised at the expense of the growth of tax base and revenue. It may be appreciated that the 85,000 strong workforce of Central Government are administering the indirect taxes of the Union, for over seven decades, through many phases and also keeping pace with the technology and best practices, prevailing across the globe, collecting the revenue, always above the set targets. This workforce now stands united in furtherance of defending the progress and the goals set by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.
Towards that end, the following Resolutions were adopted in the meeting of All Associations in CBEC on 01/10/2016 at Mumbai (BKC):
1. Service Tax Administration to be in the exclusive domain of Centre.
2. Dual Control of the Centre and the States (for Goods) across the spectrum.
These two resolutions are adopted keeping in mind the fact that during the transition period (3-5 years) the main thrust of GST would be on increasing tax base and revenue. And during the same material period, Centre is to subsidize any virtual revenue loss of the states. To meet both the ends, it is felt necessary that the administrative control/pattern be continued with the Centre.
3. Audit, Preventive / Anti-evasion and Intelligence to be exclusively with Centre.
With an estimated overwhelming presence of IGST transactions and threat of evasion across the states, and the professional expertise of the central employees in these fields, this resolution has been adopted.
4. Human Resource and the Organizational matters should be finalized with the consent of all associations in CBEC.
On several counts the field level officers and employees of the central indirect taxes Department continue to suffer the ignominy of weak or un-acceptable HR policies, and is subject to worst kind of stagnation in terms of career progression, among all the central govt. employees. Introduction of GST administration, provides an opportunity to address that.
Sir, we feel that the benefits of pan-India foot prints of the central indirect taxes would be lost if the tax payer base is handed over to the states without proper evaluation, and we expect that our understanding would get due recognition and initiate a positive response, and in favour of these resolutions, the following action programmes were also adopted in the meeting:-
5. On 14th October Lunch Hour gathering in front of the residence of the Union Finance Minister to hand over the Memorandum & Lunch Hour peaceful programmes in front of every Headquarters' Office, throughout the country.
· As a sequel to point no. 5, agitation programs will be escalated, culminating in the observation of Mass Casual Leave on Union Budget Day-2017.
Thanking You,
With due Regards,
(B. A. CHAKRAVARTHI) (RAVI MALIK) (ABHISHEK KAMAL)
Secretary General Secretary General Secretary General
IRS (IDT) OA AIACEGEO AICEIA
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SERVICE TAX ASSESSMENT UNDER GST
After differences cropped up between Centre and states regarding the administrative control of service tax assessees in the second meeting of GST council on Friday, a technical committee of officers will now hold a series of meetings, beginning with one later this week in Ahmedabad to resolve contentious issues. The team will then brief their respective state finance ministers, who are scheduled to gather in the national capital for the third GST Council meeting from October 18-21.
In its first meeting on September 23, the GST Council, which is headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley, had decided to allow states to have administrative control over Value Added Tax (VAT) assessees with annual turnover of less than Rs1.5 crore and for turnover of over Rs 1.5 core, a system of cross empowerment between states and Centre was agreed by the Council.
For around 11 lakh service tax assessees, a status quo was decided in the first meeting. The finance minister had conveyed that state government officials will be trained in due course to handle the service tax cases, but till then Centre will have exclusive jurisdictional control. It was also decided that new assessees which would be added to the list would be divided between the Centre and states.
The decision was later opposed by some states in the second meeting last week Some states in the meeting proposed to have a cross empowerment model for top service tax assessees and exclusive control for Centre for smaller assessees. The top service tax assesees constitute over 30,000 out of total 11 lath service tax assessees at present. Also, states have asked for more clarity regarding control of service tax assessees in sectors such as construction where both goods and services are involved, a senior government official said. Though the Council could have conducted voting on the issue, it was decided to refrain from going ahead with a vote and instead build a consensus among the states, the official added.
Due to this sticking point of service tax assessment between the Centre and the states, the minutes of meeting of the first GST Council meeting were not approved in the second meeting held on Friday.
“With regard to one item recorded in the minutes with regard to the service tax assessment in the new dispensation, there was a long discussion on the interpretation on the decision taken in the last meeting and that discussion consumed a lot of time to-day. That discussion was inconclusive and therefore it will continue in the next meeting on 18th (October)," finance minister Arun Jaitley told reporters after the second meeting on September 30.
The GST Council is trying to mow swiftly to decide on issues of draft IGST, CGST and SGST laws and rules, GST rate structure and exemption lists by November 22 to meet its intended deadline of April 1,2017 for the indirect tax regime. With two meetings, the Council has decided on threshold for GST levy, area-based exemptions and draft rules dealing with registration, rules for payments, return, refund and invoices. The rules will be notified once the Act is passed and accordingly simultaneous changes are being made in model GST law. The GST Council has decided to fix the exemption limit for the indirect tax at Rs 10 lakh for northeastern states and hill states and Rs 20 lath for other states along with decision to subsume all cesses into GST.
The next meeting of the council on October 18-20 will again take up discussions on service tax assessment and the formula for calculating compensation for states in case of revenue shortfall as a result of implementation of GST regime. The crucial issue of GST rate will also come up for discussion in the three-day meeting apart from selection of a state finance minister as the vice-chairman of the council.
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