Ceding control of GST admin to states will disempower centre: CBEC

NEW DELHI: Giving in to the states’ demand for sole control of tax administration of taxpayers below Rs 1.5 crore threshold under the goods and services tax ( GST) regime will disempower the Centre, a top official of the Central Board of Excise and Customs has said, suggesting that breaking the deadlock over the issue could be difficult.

"The debate and discussion have only been on whether the Central government should be kept out of a certain category of goods. We seriously believe that while I empower you, you cannot disempower me," CBEC chairperson Najib Shah said at an event organised by industry body Assocham.

"In effect, by saying that you cannot be there in a certain category of goods, you are disempowering me which we have our reservations about."

Lack of consensus on the issue of how the new tax, having central and state elements, would be collected and administered is holding up the supporting legislations on the GST, which the government is keen to introduce on April 1 next year.

The GST Council will meet again on December 11-12 to thrash out the issue. States including West Bengal, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have insisted on exclusive control over small taxpayers, who earn less than Rs 1.5 crore in annual revenue, for both goods and services.

The Centre is reluctant to divide the assessment on the basis of turnover.

A decision on the issue is important to ensure that a taxpayer is assessed only once and a ‘dual control’ is avoided.

"We are clear that one assessee will be dealing with the administration of either state or Centre. So, the entire cross empowerment issue was, we empower each other… in case the state authorities look at SGST issue, they also look at CGST and vice versa," Shah said.