On December 17, 2019, the Ministry of Finance(MoF) has set Rs 1.1 trillion monthly GST (Goods and Services Tax) target for the remaining four months of the fiscal year(FY 2019-20) and asked tax officials to step up efforts to achieve the goal. The announcement was made in a meeting amid government may fall short of tax collection target in a slowing economy.
Meeting overview:
i.Video Conference: A special video conference meeting with top tax officials of departments looking after both income tax and indirect taxes such as GST was held by revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey. The objective of the meeting was that to exhort officers at all levels to maximise tax collection, at the same time ensuring that genuine taxpayers will not be troubled or harassed.
ii.Target set:
- The GST target was set at Rs 1.10 trillion every month between December 2019 and March 2020.Out of these 4 months, Rs 1.25 trillion collections have to be achieved in at least one month.
- Both the GST as well as the Rs 13.35 trillion target for direct taxes for 2019-20 will have to be achieved. Out of the Rs 13.35 trillion direct tax collection target, about Rs 6 trillion (45%) of the annual target, has been collected till October 2019.
- For 2019-20, the Union government is targeting Rs 6.63 trillion from its share of GST revenues.
- Tax officials: Members of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), as well as other top officials will have to achieve tax targets both for direct and indirect taxes.
- Conduct of Drives: A drive will also be conducted to recover past arrears during the next three months.
- Data from GST return information will be provided to income tax departments to detect any suppression of turnover in the cases and proper tax can be recovered.
- Field visits: The senior officers including members of CBIC and CBDT, Principal Chief Commissioners(PCC) & Chief Commissioners and other field machinery will have to undertake field visits on a regular basis every week.
About Ministry of Finance(MoF):
Founded- 29 October 1946.
Headquarters- New Delhi.
Minister of State(MoS)- Shri Anurag Singh Thakur. (Constituency: Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh).
