Imphal, 28th April, 2018 (DIPR): Commissioner Taxation Manipur, Shri Ravender Singh emphasised on the role of the Taxation Department of the State as extremely important because whatever taxes/revenue collected by the Dept. are not tied to any of the schemes funded by the Central Government. These taxes are available at the disposal of the State Government and the State can invest that money for the upliftment of the people in any way and it is important to ensure that there is greater tax collection, he stated.
In the press conference held today at DIPR Complex, Moirangkhom, he appealed to the people of the State-traders as well as consumers to help the taxation Department in functioning properly and in case of any query, to contact the concerned Department or facilitation centre or via mail.
Talking to media persons, he highlighted that the main function of the Department of Taxes that is under the administrative control of the Finance Department is to levy indirect taxes in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST), Value Added Tax (VAT), Professional Tax etc.
The GST that was introduced in India from 1st July, 2018 aims to make the country a common market with common tax rates and procedures and remove the economic barriers thus paving the way for an integrated economy at the national level, he added.
Pointing that GST is a consumption based tax and not origin based, he said that it is estimated that Manipur will get higher revenue in the GST regime as the proposed GST is to be based on the destination principle.
Giving a report that on an average, 500 GST registrations and 2000 GST Returns are filed every month at the facilitation centre, Ravender also informed that E-way bill system for inter-State movement of goods has been implemented from 1st April, 2018 that can be generated from the portal http:ewaybillgst.gov.in.
The number of taxpayers in Manipur registered under GST till the 15th of this month is 10,732 and the Government has fixed the revenue target under Sales Tax for financial year 2017-18 at Rs. 700 crore, he also added. “Manipur is at the 2nd position in terms of states showing maximum improvement in revenue collection upto February 2018 as per the report submitted in the 26th meeting of the GST Council”, he exhorted.
Intra-State e-way bill, Tax Deduction at Source(TDS) functionality by the DDOs, deployment of flying squads to verify e-way bills/proper documents of goods, facilitation centres at all district headquarters and awareness programmes on new functionalities developed by GSTN for target audiences are still in the pipeline, he elaborated during the press meet.
On the issue on internal problems in registration and Returns filing, he said that a lot of people are not technology savvy and finds problem in the internet component and the problem can be redressed with help from the facilitation centres.
In order to encourage registration, Superintendent Taxation ,Y Indrakumar stressed that about 40-50 awareness programmes even along with consumer clubs are held besides conducting survey by the Department every month at almost all the districts of Manipur and communicating via print and electronic media.
The State level anti-profiteering Committee is one mechanism to check and control the distortion and undue rise in the Maximum Retail Price(MRP) of any commodity or item and any defaulter is liable to pay penalty of Rs.20,000 or more , he also said.
Assistant Commissioner Taxation, R.K. Khurkhishor Singh said that there is difference between GST tax and the general income tax.
Joint Director IPR , W. Phajatombi moderated the press conference. (DIPR).
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