Important issues of the traders related to GST
Copy of Letter to FM from Confederation of All India Traders
Ref No.: 3224/1/50
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Hon’ble Minister for Finance
Government of India
New Delhi
Dear Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman Ji,
Sub : Important issues of the traders related to GST
In continuation of our earlier exhaustive and detailed representation on GST issues and in the wake of the meeting of the GST Council to be held on 28th May,2021 , we once again draw your kind attention towards the current coronavirus pandemic which has highly disrupted the business activities all over the Country. At the time when the business fraternity in India which was doing hard work for restoration of normal business scenarios, the second wave of coronavirus broke out in between in a most devastating manner leaving the traders in a great financial and other crisis. Even if the lockdown in different States is relaxed, the restoration of normal business activities will take a longer time.
Pending the discussion on the memorandum submitted by us earlier on GST and as a matter of providing immediate relief, we invoke your kind attention to the following burning core issues for discussion in the meeting of the GST Council with a request to please take immediate action in order to relieve the traders from compliance of the same temporarily.
Therefore, we request to kindly extend the date of filing of various GSTR returns till August, 2021 without late fee and interest. It is also requested that the rate of GST all the medical and surgical equipment required for covid and black fungus pandemic may also be reduced considerably.
Late fee for filing returns; penalty for depositing tax late; interest for depositing tax late should be waived for the entire pandemic period.
The Challan should be. made the basis of payment of tax and not the filing of the return
No cancellation of registrations should be resorted to at this time unless there are pressing reasons for doing so. This will derail the trade completely.
For all traders having turnover of below 20 crores in a year, no survey or audits or special assessments should be ordered for the years 17-18 and 18-19. The traders cannot afford this at present.
As far as possible authorities should be directed to be very discreet before they arrest traders or attach their bank accounts or summon them for statements. There is an atmosphere of panic in the trade and these actions will further create crisis unless there are very pressing and urgent reasons and justification for doing so.
All authorities in the country should be directed to not to stop vehicles on hyper technical grounds or errors in the e way bills as long as the gst no of the recipient is mentioned, tax invoice is carried and the tax is charged. These instructions should remain at least till december 2021.
For export related refunds the authorities at state gst level be directed to ensure refunds are released immediately to overcome the liquidity crisis. And for igst refund customs should be directed to release refund without any delay whatsoever. Anyways audits can always be done later in case there are reasons for further investigation. But at this time trade must be saved,
Financial Package :
1) Though this issue has no relevance with GST but keeping in view of the fact that Finance Ministers of all the States are members of the GST Council and since it is the only joint forum of both Central and State Government and welfare of the traders is the joint responsibility of both Central and State Governments, we crave leave to draw your kind attention towards immediate need of financial assistance to traders since their shops and markets are closed for last more than a month and there is no inflow of money whereas the outflow of money continues in terms of meeting family and establishment expenses like salary of the employees, electricity bills , water bills , property tax and various other incidental expenses;we request you and other members of the GST Council to grant a comprehensive financial package to traders to assist them in recovering their business.
2) You are also requested to advise the banks to defer payment of EMIs, interest etc. and a moratorium on loans for a period of six months to give a breathing time for the traders to start operations of their business without having any burden on their mind.
3) Since traders are the honorary tax collectors for the Government, we have an absolute right to demand such financial facilities from the Central and State Governments. It is to be noted that during the previous lockdown last year, the traders were not given even a single rupee in any of the package announced by the Government and at a time when traders were trying to recover their business, the second wave further thrashed their business and therefore a financial package will help them in recovering from the huge damages caused to them.
We are sure that the above points will receive your immediate kind attention.
Thank you. With kind regards.
Yours truly
Praveen Khandelwal
National Secretary General
Confederation of All India Traders
