The Central Excise Commissionerate Noida II in association with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India on May 29 organized a workshop for tax payers for smooth switchover to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which will come into effect from July 1. The programme, joined by representatives of several leading companies, was held at the Commissionerate office in Wegmans Business Park, Greater Noida.

Amand Shah, Commissioner, Central Excise Noida II, said experts addressed the issues and problems faced by trade and industry in order to help them swiftly move towards the GST regime. “Implementation of GST is going to be a significant step in the field of indirect tax reforms in the country by amalgamating a large number of central and state taxes into a single tax. It would mitigate cascading or double taxation in a major way and pave way for a common national market,” Shah said.

“Introduction of GST would also make Indian products competitive in the domestic and international markets. It will give a major boost to the ‘Make in India’ initiative by making goods and services produced in India competitive in the national as well as international market,” he said.

He observed that from the consumer point of view, the biggest advantage would be in terms of a reduction in the overall tax burden on goods, which is currently estimated to be around 25-30%.

The Central Excise Commissionerate Noida II has been asked to ensure implementation of GST in coordination with UP Commercial Tax Department in most convenient manner to ensure ease of doing business and making it simpler for trade to participate in GST migration.

Harish Kumar, Assistant Commissioner, said the office has also taken some significant initiative in this regard. “We started ‘One Hour, One Tax, One Nation’ programme for training of officers. We also trained them on GST laws and rules of the new policy. The Commissionerate has also started a bulk mail facility to address the queries raised by the stakeholders,” he said.

Source: Times of India