Goods and Services Tax (GST) Departmental Audit is the process of examining a taxable person’s records, returns, and other documentation compliance with the GST regulations, said M.R.R. Reddy, Principal Additional Director General – Director General GST Intelligence, Visakhapatnam Zone.
Addressing a seminar on on GST Department Audit and Enforcement, organised by CII Visakhapatnam here on Friday, Mr. Reddy said that better understanding of GST law helps in preventing many litigations in the preliminary stage itself.
“As per Section 65 and Rule 101(3) of GST Audit Rules, the Commissioner or an officer authorised by him can conduct a GST audit to verify the details of the ‘records’ and the ‘books of account’ of the registered person,” Mr. Reddy said.
The authorised officer shall inform the findings, rights and obligations, and the reasons for the given findings to the registered person, within a period of 30 days in Form GST Adt-02. If the registered taxpayer is found at fault, such as wrongly availed/utilised ITC, the authorised officer can proceed as per Section 73 or 74 of GST Audit Rules, he added.
“If taxpayers are facing any genuine issues with the Department, I am advising them to bring it to my notice for resolution,” Mr. Reddy said.
CII Visakhapatnam zone chairman P.P. Lal Krishna said “This is sixth year of its GST implementation. The MSMEs are the biggest beneficiary of the simplified tax regime.”
Mr. Anil Kumar Bezawada, Convenor, Finance & Taxation Panel, and practising advocate of AP High Court, suggested keen insights of what type of GST cases, appeals and issues to be filed with the High Court for early resolution of disputes instead of going for regular appeal route.
Sharing the industry perspective on GST, P Rajesh, CMD, PBL Transport Corporation Pvt Ltd, highlighted how AI tools benefitted business entities. He suggested that if petroleum products are brought under Input Tax Credits, it will help to bring down logistics costs in India significantly.
Sharing the updates from the 50th GST Council Meeting, CA Vikram Katariya, advised business organisations to avoid mistakes like neglecting to file NIL return when there are no sales or purchases, confusing zero-rated and nil-rated supply treatment, failure to reconcile GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B returns, non-payment of Reverse-Charge Mechanism (RCM), Incorrect entry of invoice details in GSTR-1, misplacement of export sales details, delays or failure to file GST returns within the due date.
Published - August 11, 2023 07:35 pm IST
