Need Faceless GST Assessment and Appeals to Boost Transparency: SGCCI to FM

Surat | Gujarat —  The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI)  has made a detailed representation to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the implementation of faceless assessment and faceless adjudication mechanism under the Goods and Service Tax (GST). 

SGCCI president Nikhil Madrasi said that the Faceless Assessment Scheme and Appeal Scheme implemented under the Income Tax system has proven to be a historic and successful scheme, due to which transparency and efficiency in the tax system have increased significantly. The elimination of personal contact has brought uniformity in the decision-making process and the confidence of the taxpayers has been strengthened. This scheme has been successful in reducing corruption and has been widely adopted by the general public.

The GST system has already become digital to a large extent. Return filing, e-invoicing, e-way bill, refund claims and various applications are done completely online. In such a situation, it is the need of the hour to make the assessment, adjudication and audit processes faceless under GST as well.

Currently, the e-scheme is in force, which has also been proposed to be converted into faceless by the SGCCI. Because, under the e-scheme, entrepreneurs and professionals of trade and industry process online, but still they have to physically go to the office to submit documents, hence a proposal has been made to convert the existing e-scheme into faceless.

Currently, assessment and proceedings under GST are done physically by jurisdictional officers, due to which different interpretations, additional costs and unnecessary disputes arise many times. This process remains difficult and costly, especially for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The chamber has suggested in its submission that faceless assessment under GST be implemented in a phased manner, which may include return scrutiny and mismatch notice (between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B), proceedings related to Input Tax Credit (ITC), adjudication of show cause notices under sections 73 and 74 of the CGST Act, refund verification and audit procedures. For this, it has been recommended to set up a central digital system like National Faceless GST Centre like Income Tax, from where cases can be automatically distributed and the entire communication can be done electronically.

Demand for faceless appeal mechanism under GST too

Currently, there is a huge pendency in appeal cases as the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) is not fully functional. In such a situation, if a Faceless Appeal Mechanism is implemented, especially at the Commissioner (Appeals) level, speedy and transparent justice can be provided.

If the appeal system is implemented through digital hearing and electronic document processing like in Income Tax, the MSME sector will get special relief and will strengthen the “Ease of Doing Business”.

State GST (SGST) officers should also be fully integrated in this faceless system. State and Central officers can be allocated cases outside their physical area through a central digital platform, so that impartiality is ensured across the country and the spirit of cooperative federalism is strengthened.

Implementation of faceless assessment and faceless appeal system under GST will prove to be a future-oriented and taxpayer-friendly reform, realizing the vision of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance”. This step will increase transparency, efficiency and trust and establish India as a model of digital tax governance at the global level.

The SGCCI has requested the Finance Minister to implement the necessary policy decisions, legislative amendments and technological roadmap for this reform at the earliest.