An interactive meeting with Mr. Rajiv Jalota, IAS, Commissioner of State Tax, Department of Goods and Service Tax, Government of Maharashtra was organised by MVIRDC World Trade Center (WTC) Mumbai in association with All India Association of Industries (AIAI) at Hotel Trident, Mumbai on May 9, 2019. Mr. Jalota said, “Today 65% of GST revenue comes from a reduction of taxes on most goods to 18% slab. The government has forgone more than INR two lakh crore because of input tax credit under GST. In future, GST Council will introduce a new tax returns filing system to simplify the compliance procedures for micro, small and medium enterprises, which will be introduced after testing it on pilot basis.”

Mr. Jalota offered to partner with MVIRDC WTC Mumbai and AIAI for re-launching its skill development programme on GST for professionals.

Mr. Sanjay Mahendru, Commissioner, Central Goods and Services Tax, Mumbai said, “GST Council has set up the Law Committee and Fitment Committee to study the representations received by industry and take timely action on them.”

Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Vice Chairman, MVIRDC World Trade Center Mumbai raised concerns about the impact of GST reform on unorganised sector and called for lower tax rate to address tax evasion and enlarge tax base.

He said, “Government of India must reduce the number of tax slabs under GST to two from the existing four slabs. Also, there is need to reduce GST rates in order to discourage tax evasion. In order to provide relief to MSMEs, the government must raise the turnover threshold for GST to INR one crore from the current level of INR 40 lakh. Gradually, petroleum products and real estate must be brought under GST regime.”

Mr. Kalantri suggested policymakers to reform regressive tax laws and avoid prosecution as a solution to address tax non-compliance.

During the event, representatives from trade and industry raised queries and sought clarifications on filing of tax returns, claiming input tax credit, rectifying errors in form submission, incidence of double taxation etc. One of India’s leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company suggested government to offer input tax credit for domestic infrastructure projects sub contracted by foreign companies to Indian company.

In Photo:

From (L-R): Mr. Vijay Kalantri, Ms. Rupa Naik, Mr. Rajiv Jalota, Mr. Sanjay Mahendru and Mr. Y. R. Warerkar.