A seminar on 'One year of GST- learning, unlearning and expectations' conducted on Friday in the city saw speakers highlighting the significance of the tax regime as well as underscoring the need for measures to address various concerns that remain.
“Though it may not be the ultimate and most perfect single tax system, it’s working towards bringing in efficiency in the system,” said a release from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), which had organised the seminar.
The thrust of the seminar was on challenges being faced by chartered accountants and their clients to comply with GST and ways to simplify it for a robust taxation system. Besides a recap on GST, the seminar discussed the best practices, litigation under GST and GST Audits. The biggest dampener, the speakers felt, was the compliance process with IT glitches taking more than the anticipated time to be resolved. Multiple registration requirements complicated things for the industry. The refund mechanism for exporters remains to be addressed, the release said.
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The speakers emphasised on simplification of GST returns and arresting revenue leakage by way of traders collecting tax but not remitting the same to the government. The expansion of the tax base being a necessary concomitant for the success of GST, the speakers at the seminar suggested that in addition to the e-way bill, a few more anti-evasion measures be put in place, gradually.
Over 300 delegates from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra attended the seminar. Adusumalli Venkateswara Rao, Chairman of SIRC of ICAI; Sunil Kumar Mandava, Chairman of the Hyderabad branch; and Chanchal Agarwal, Chairman of Warangal branch, were among those who addressed the gathering, the release said.