CAIT urges government to form GST Coordination Committee at district level

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Friday urged the government to form a Goods and Services Tax (GST) Coordination Committee at the district level, comprising senior officials and representatives of trade to facilitate smaller traders.

According to the traders' association, trade leaders from 23 states arrived at a unanimous resolution to form the committee at the district level for better co-ordination with the Centre on matters related to GST.

The CAIT said that despite continuous efforts of the government, small town traders are in a confused state due to lack of knowledge about the basic fundamentals of GST resulting in procedural lapses, particularly in charging taxes or raising invoices.

"Down the line, precisely in smaller towns, traders are totally disturbed because they are not aware of the provisions of GST and what are their compliance obligations under GST. There are large number of disparities and contradictions," Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of CAIT, told IANS.

"We are talking about a co-ordination committee because we should work up to at least the district level for the success of GST on a larger scale, since the awareness level is very minimal among smaller traders," he added.

"By and large, the trading community in the country has adopted GST taking it as a progressive taxation system. However, few verticals of retail trade have raised their concerns and issues which needs attention of the Government and their holistic solution," a CAIT statement said.

Vinod Karwa, a trader in chemicals (involved more in import-related activities), said: "We need a district level committee who will insist the officer or the department on the higher level. The system never speaks, they only respond to documentation. The district level committee would be bound to the officers for easy response."

"Government is also suggested to re-look at the category of products and services under tax slab of 28 per cent since many of the products deserve to be considered to move to lower tax bracket like auto spare parts and housing industry items," the statement said.

The CAIT also suggested to the government to hold "post-GST Assessment Meet" with trade and commerce bodies, both at the level of central government and also with state governments to understand ground issues.