Himachal Pradesh State Taxes and Excise Department takes new initiatives for GST revenue enhancement

The government of the state has taken many bold initiatives to enforce financial control, with the goal of strengthening the state’s economic health. Many new initiatives have been launched in every industry to reduce excessive spending.

The state government is progressively advancing towards all-round growth with new measures to improve the efficiency of the State Taxes and Excise Department, with the goal of altering the system. The main difficulty confronting Goods and Services Tax (GST) administrations across the country is the control of fake registrations. The inclusion of these fraudulent individuals into the GST system results in a significant loss to the state exchequer.

Himachal Pradesh State Taxes and Excise Department has also taken a number of steps to protect and increase GST revenue.

To prevent fraudsters from entering the system, the department has set a target of 100% acceptance of GST registrations in manual mode following thorough verification of papers attached to the registration application. Furthermore, the government is taking proper steps for physical verifications of registrants deemed risky.

The department has long been involved in discovering and prosecuting fraudulent tax evaders. It has also been collaborating with central tax officials to take action against tax evaders who fall within their jurisdiction in a timely manner. Taking action, the department is in the process of building systems at the state headquarters for the earliest detection of fraudulent taxpayers, as well as taking all necessary measures to identify fraudulent taxpayers upon the first hint of evasion, in order to minimise revenue loss.

To create a healthy work environment, the department has taken new initiatives for revenue enhancement under GST for the earliest detection of tax evaders, capacity building of tax administrators, identification of areas with scope for revenue enhancement, and improving performance monitoring of pitch formations and rewarding the excellent performers.

The GST Revenue Enhancement Project has been launched to offset the deficit caused by the cessation of GST compensation. The initiative is estimated to earn an additional Rs.250 crore in income over and above typical tax buoyancy.

The Chief Minister, Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, has also inaugurated a new initiative called “Sadbhavna Yojana-2023” to help merchants, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. This is where pending matters under the General Sales Tax Act, the Central Sales Tax Act, and the Entry Tax Act are resolved. Along with reducing tax evasion, information technology refresher courses are being conducted to improve staff capacity building.

Furthermore, the department has been pushing state-specific concerns in the GST Council in order to increase income. The state was successful in obtaining GST Council permission for recording the location of supply in the event of consumer purchases and other unregistered purchases worth more than Rs. 50,000. According to the department’s spokesperson, the execution of this advice has aided the state in revenue augmentation.