ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS
Patron
Chief Patron
Patron
A.
Venkatesh
Ravi Malik
C. S. Sharma
Mob. 7780255361 Mob. 9868816290 Mob.
9313885411
President:
Address for communication: Secretary
General:
T. Dass Flat No. 6,
SE 11, Shastri Nagar, Ghaziabad Harpal Singh
Mob.9848088928 mail
Id:aiacegeo2019@gmail.com
Site:cengoindia.blogspot.in Mob.9717510598
Vice Presidents: B L Meena, K V Sriniwas (Central) Chinmoy Ghosh, Rajashish Dutta
(East) Ashish Vajpayee, Amadul Islam (North) B Pavan K Reddy, M Jegannathan
(South) Sanjeev Sahai, U D Meena (West) Joint Secretaries: S P Pandey, T
A Manojuman (Central) Apurba Roy, Siddharth Tewari (East) A K Meena, S K
Shrimali (West) Anand Narayan, Prabhakar Sharma (North) H Sadanand, M Nagaraju
(South); All India Coordinator: B L Meena Office Secretary: B C
Gupta Treasuer: Manoj Kumar Organising Secretary: Soumen
Bhattachariya Liaisoning Secretary: Bhoopendra Singh
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No.
B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Office address: 206, B wing, CGO Complex II, Kamla
Nehru Nagar, Ghaziabad
Ref.
No. 151/AIB/U/20
Dt. 11.09.20
To,
Sh. M. Ajit Kumar,
Chairman,
CBIC,
North Block,
New Delhi.
Sub: Scrutiny of GST
returns by not following AIO module/task list.
Sir,
Your kind attention is invited to the letter dated 09.09.20 (copy enclosed) of the worthy Commissioner of CGST, Gandhinagar namely Dr. Jeetesh Nagori with the subject of “Pathetic work on scrutiny of GST return”. The language of the letter seems totally highhanded, unofficial, undemocratic, insulting and threatening using the wordings like, “Now it’s time to fix all such useless elements”, “Let me clear that I am not in mood to spare any non performer and they should be ready for tough calls”, “should also ready for music”, “I hope the tone and tenor of my letter is quite clear” etc.
2.
It is to submit with due regards that such letters only spoil the work culture
and working atmosphere instead of resulting into any productivity. The
Superintendents have been directed to do preliminary scrutiny of minimum 100
returns and detailed scrutiny of minimum 25 returns in a month by the said
letter. This is total injustice to already extraordinarily overburdened Superintendents
and may result into the total collapse of the system by creation of an
atmosphere of total panic, mistrust, threat and suppression as an outcome of
the tone and tenor of the letter of Dr. Jeetesh Nagori. It is also reiterated
that the CBIC has not issued any SOP for scrutiny of GST returns in the fashion
as ordered by Dr. Jeetesh Nagori. Throughout the country, the officers are very
much agitated by the letter of Dr. Nagori.
3. It is
further to submit that no important work in relation of revenue has been
allotted to the Commissioners and above officers under GST. They are working
merely as administrative heads. But it is no way justified to issue such
threatening letters by a HOD in the name of administrative work. They have
work of review of orders, only which can be termed as revenue related. That too is
being analysed and processed by the Superintendent. The appeal too
is drafted by the Superintendent. As also requested by the Association under the submissions
made about the cadre restructuring, time now has come to define the revenue
related responsibilities for each level including Commissioner and above. No
need to submit that this should be done based on the principle “higher post,
higher responsibility for scrutiny/assessment in direct proportion of pay
package” on the pattern of State GST and sister organization of Income Tax.
Otherwise all higher level posts are required to be abolished and create more
posts at lower levels which are actually needed for revenue augmentation in
consonance of GST Act. There seems no need to have decorative posts in the
National interest, e.g., huge number of Commissioners and above. Actually, today
Commissioner and above posts have no real work in GST and their work seems to be totally
unproductive. It is the need of the time that the assessees should be allocated on the basis
of the turnover upto all higher/highest levels for scrutiny/assessment as all are
revenue officers and all should be given responsibility of actual revenue
related work. The revenue officers are not supposed to do merely supervisory/monitoring
work whether belonged to Superintendent level or Commissioner or above levels.
We all are citizens of our great India and all should bear responsibility in
Nation building duly maintaining mutual respect.
4. The tone
and tenor of the letter of Dr. Nagori is as the Superintendents are doing no
work whereas the reality is that the Superintendents are the backbone of the
CBIC and already doing the work even above their capacity by working for twenty
four hours and even on holidays and also in odd hours despite of getting the
worst pay packages and worst career prospects in comparison to their
counterparts. All responsibilities and burden of work have been deviated to
them. If all works are to be done by the Superintendents only, there seems no
need of highly paid higher posts in the CBIC. If the higher authorities are
meant only for administrative work, IAS officers seems the better option as
being done in states who are only a few at the level of Commissioner in comparison
to the huge numbers and doing non-revenue works in our CBIC.
5. Moreover,
it is a bitter fact that the Superintendent level officers are being asked to
work without due manpower and infrastructure but they are being
made responsible for everything. If all levels of the officers are allotted specific
job of return scrutiny and assessment in direct proportion to pay packages, it shall increase the
efficiency and productivity and also the hefty pay packages to higher
authorities shall be justified. This will optimize the
work at every level to improve the output and everybody will be responsive. If an
example of scrutiny of returns is taken, it should be allotted to
all levels from Superintendent to Commissioner and above based on value/tax/turnover. Similar
pattern should be adopted for other works. This will also help to maintain
ratio between different cadres for effective supervision. It is also reiterated
that the states are handling more assessees than us with one Commissioner. So, work
distribution in direct proportion of pay packages is the urgent need of time.
6. It is
worth to mention that our Superintendents are already doing so many offline
work functions relating to development and verification of intelligence, transit
checks, surprise checks, keeping eye to discourage evasion, carry
out preventive and enforcement activities, recovery of arrears,
trade facilitation etc. The detailed responsibilities born by our
Superintendents have already been submitted vide letter Ref. No. Ref. No. 310/AIB/R/18 Dt.
26.11.18 (copy enclosed). No need to say
that our Superintendents are already working hard with all their energy and
zeal to contribute for the Nation and maximization of revenue despite of acute
shortage of working hands at Range level. They are attending the work related
to taxpayers assistance/Seva Kendra, processing of ARNs, taxpayers
communications and action/replies thereof, preparation of periodical reports
and others miscellaneous reports besides the reports asked by higher authorities
in specific formats, assistance to visiting audit/inspection team and compliances
of their objections and audit paras, to attend/brief the departmental representative/counsel
in all appellate levels and court cases from lower court to Supreme Court,
analysis and preparation of para-wise comments on appeals, writ petitions,
special leave petitions, civil appeals, prosecution matters besides other
related court matters viz monitoring of progress of the appellate/court cases,
preparation of the appeal papers, replies/counter affidavit etc. and filing
thereof through departmental representative/counsel in the respective appellate
authority/courts, preparation of the SCNs and adjudication orders for higher
authorities, verification of data/papers, drafting work, issuance of SCN and
adjudication thereof of own competency, analysis and monitoring of revenue
trend, collection of revenue, identification of non-filers and to initiate
appropriate action, recovery of the arrears, to initiate the enquiries on
references received from the various GST formations (both Central and State)
and the cases identified by DGRAM on various parameters, submission of the
verification reports and to take effective action thereon, verification of the
refund claims, other incentive matters and conditional exemption matters, scrutiny/assessment
of returns assigned by the
assessment module (if any), all pending legacy matters/issues etc. and many
more.
7. It may be appreciated
that Range Officer is doing work in all the spheres which can’t even be imagined
by our higher authorities whereas a substantial quantum of the said workload
can be retained at the offices above the Range level. It is worth to mention
that Range Officers have been provided the least infrastructure and in the most
of the cases much below the DGHRD norms too. Further, they are dealing with
thousands of assessees individually without any assisting hands. Many of them are dealing with more than 10 thousands
assesses on individual basis against the model of 300-400 under GST. Moreover,
they are working only with one or less Inspector. The situation of the shortage
of manpower is so terrible that Asstt./Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents
and Inspectors are already working with multiple/additional charges without any
incentive. Practically, the responsibilities of higher levels have been shifted
to the lower/Range Offices by overburdening them day by day. The higher offices
have become just reporting offices doing only routine works.
8. For example,
in implementation of SVLDRS, the CBIC wished that Designated Committee should
examine and dispose off the declaration. But, in all cases, reports were sought
from the Range Offices and Designated Committees acted on the basis of Range
reports. The scheme was promulgated based on online module but files were
opened and reports were called from Rangen Offices etc. manually and only then the
decisions were taken, which was against the vision of the scheme. In our CBIC,
it has become a culture to workload junior/lower officers by piling up work
with them resulting into tremendous work pressure on them whereas higher
officers have least work with more and more idle time with luxury
infrastructure. It is need of the time now that work flow should not go below
the specified level. With the introduction of the e-office, it can be done effectively
and efficiently, if CBIC desires so.
9. Dr. Jeetesh
Nagori has ordered the task for scrutiny of the returns with specific numbers without
going into the details of the terrible workload with the Range Officer and without
making efforts that the Range Officer should not be loaded with more new offline
task. His letter seems to be threatening and without considering the ground
reality of the situation of infrastructure, IT and other issues. Basic premise of GST regime is contactless, faceless and
technology driven. Accordingly, module has been developed/under development as
per timeline of the CBIC. The scrutiny of returns by not following the AIO
module/task list is/was never intended by the CBIC. Had this been the
intention, then there was no need to develop the AIO module/task list in back
end application. It has come to the notice of this Association that the Range
Officers are acting on the task list populated on their login screen of AIO and
there is no such pendency on the AIO of Range Officer which needs the issuance
of such threatening order as issued by Dr. Jeetesh Nagori. Rather it seems that
he wants to undertake the task by not following the assessment module and without
issuance of any SOP by CBIC in this regard for the reasons best known to him
only.
10. It is
reiterated that the AIACEGEO, in the proposal of the cadre re-structuring, has already
emphasized for the allocation of the assessment work upto the highest level in
direct proportion to the pay packages and the Association requests for the same again.
It is also need of the time that workload and work flow may be re-visited and a
proper allocation of work may be assigned at all the levels of hierarchy with
defined tail end (i.e., specific level below which work should not flow).
11. In view of
above, it is requested to kindly:
(i) Direct the
concerned authorities not to issue such threatening letter which spoils working
atmosphere.
(ii) Relook the
workload being undertaken by the Range Officers to shred off it.
(iii) To assign the
assessment/scrutiny of return upto the highest levels in direct proportion of
pay packages on the pattern of State GST and Income Tax.
(iv) Not direct
the Range Officers for scrutiny of return or assessment by not followingthe
assessment module or in absence of any SOP to this effect issued by CBIC.
(v) Not
undertake scrutiny of the return/assessment in offline mode.
Thanking you,
Yours
sincerely,
Encls: As above.
(HARPAL
SINGH),
Secretary
General.
Encl Ref. No. 310/AIB/R/18 Dt. 26.11.18
ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS
President: Address for
communication:
Secretary General:
A.
Venkatesh 240,
Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)
Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361 mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com, Site:
cengoindia.blogspot.in Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba Roy, P. C. Jha (East); A. K.
Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish Vajpayee, Ravi Joshi (North); B.
Pavan K. Reddy, M. Jegannathan (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J. Manojuman
(Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra (East); B. S.
Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava (North); M.
Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar (Central) Office
Secretary: C. S. Sharma T reasuer: N. R. Manda Organising
Secretary: Soumen Bhattachariya
(Recognised by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No.
B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No.
310/AIB/R/18 Dt.
26.11.18
To,
Dr John Joseph,
Special Secretary & Member, CBIC,
North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Workload of officers
working in the Ranges.
Sir,
Kindly refer
to the DO letter Dt. 14.11.18 of your goodself on the subject mentioned matter.
2. It is
to submit with due regards that the workload being faced by the officers
working in the Ranges is being presented by the Association regularly before
the administration. It is reiterated that they are overburdened on account of
innumerable reports which are being asked every hour from them despite of the
fact that the same can be produced centrally by the proper use of the system.
They are working with more than 1000 assessees per Range in comparison to 300
with the State GST counterparts in the circles as average. Many Ranges are also
having the assessees even to the tune of 12000-14000. They are also working
with acute shortage of manpower (1 to 1.5) per Range also with additional
charges in comparison to 5 in the State GST as average without any additional
charge. The State GST officers have been provided one four wheeler vehicle per
Circle for efficient disposal of work whereas no vehicle is provided to our
Ranges. This all has very well been depicted by Sh. B. B. Agarwal in his note
sent to the Board. If we talk in terms of pay scale and career prospects, the
officers working under State GST Circles are also having higher designation,
career prospects and pay scales than the counterparts working in the Ranges
under CGST despite of being same level. Our officers in Ranges are working even
without required infrastructure, proper and prescribed office space, prescribed
facilities and amenities and also without due resources.
3.
The Association believes that the intention of your kind letter is also
to use the system properly and meaningfully to relax the officers working in
the Ranges who are really having no time due to being overburdened and also
being forced to work beyond office hours and holidays under
tremendous pressure.
4. The Range was designed to working cell of the department. Over the
years, the work of the Ranges has shifted from physical control, supervision,
assessment, permission to today where no interaction is supposed with the
taxpayers. However, the administration has apparently not considered any
change in functions or formation of the Ranges. Every sundry work is assigned
to the Range offices whether comments on the orders of legal courts or comments
on the complex issues of law or statistical data which can be easily availed
centrally without asking from the field formations.Every work in the department is
initiated at the Range level without any recognition. Even the tone and tenor
of the letters and verbal directions are always appalling creating panic,
pressure and tension.
5.One of the best examples is the
expected Physical Verification of the taxpayers as per the ‘risk’ factors
identified by the system. From the figures available, no report can be
generated regarding this. It is estimated that more than 50% of the total taxpayers
have been identified as having at least a risk factor and there is no
instruction on which risk factor/s are to be prioritized. The advisory requires
the officer to use a smart phone to identify the longitude and latitude of the
taxpayer and it is mandatory though not a risk factor. So, the taxpayers not
selected for Physical Verification would not have this mandatory field filled.
If it is so important, it should be a mandatory field for registration itself.
If the officer has to visit the location of the taxpayer mandatorily, the
location cannot be identified even with a Smartphone under the circumstances.
There is no provision for transportation of so many officers to so many
locations and no Smartphone has been provided to the officers. The administration
has not given a thought for providing the due infrastructure, necessary for the
demanded work to be done. However, a progress report of the same is definitely
required.Thus, it can be seen that
verification is a time consuming process and efficiency and expediency depend
upon the response of the tax payers and subsequent monitoring and submission of
documents in time. Therefore, great amount of man hours of the Executive staff
are spent generating, verifying, compiling and monitoring various reports so
that authenticated information sent to the higher authorities.
6. Even the report
asked by your goodself is required to be given by each Range Officer on daily
basis. Many man hours cannot be accounted in 20-22 days a month. For example, at least
four meetings/Video Conferences in a month means 4-6 days (preparation &
compliance) for almost all officers. RTI; Rajbhasha/Vigilance/Swachta
pakhwaras, Special refund drive fortnights, taxpayer outreach programmes/hand
holding, preparation & compliance for inspections by DGPM, Parliamentary
Committee on Rajbhasha & others, CERA audit & compliance, Legacy
matters relating to refunds and otherwise, SCNs, Adjudication, verification of
returns (MFR/risk based) etc. take time which cannot be quantified. Study of
legacy laws and GST laws for understanding & proper invocation on case
to case basis may take a lot of time and brain storming. GST work relating to
Non Filers, TRAN-1 verification starting from old returns, sensing
doubtful/abnormal credit, checking various documents with GST transitional
provisions takes so much time and energy with the GST portal showing technical
issues frequently. GST refunds sanctioned and paid through PFMS take
their own time. Refund claims received from States for payment through
PFMS, cancellation of registration, GST practitioners registration, random
checks of returns for revenue and other reports like MPR, periodical reports
alongwith ad hoc reports/informations are other areas of work. The work further
includes appeals to be filed before Commissioner (Appeals) & CESTAT,
parawise comments for filing appeals before CESTAT/Courts, going through the
cases and case laws to brief the Counsel, responding queries of taxpayers,
visits to sensitive taxpayers to file returns etc. It takes
whole day to cover just 2-3 taxpayers to get registered. Time taken in cases of
inquiry and investigation depends on nature of each case. Work relating to
E-way bill etc. is an additional work consuming a lot of time beyond working
hours.
7. The computerization in the Department actually took
care of day to day work neither in pre-GST nor GST era, that’s why the officers
are overburdened and forced to look into every matter manually. The
digitalization of data is still under development. Besides that the legacy work
is still under process. The following points may give a picture of our
overburdened officers working in the Ranges under tremendous pressure-
(A) Multi fold
increase in number of Tax Payers:- The number of registered assessees in pre-GST
regime were much less. The threshold exemption limit has been set to Rs. 20 lac
only which was Rs. 150 lac in the Central Excise regime which has resulted into
increase in number of assessees. Moreover, this Department was dealing only
with manufacturers and service providers in pre-GST era but presently, all
sources of business/supply of goods/supply of services have been added to the
scope of work and this is another reason for increase of number of assessees.
The Taxpayers are facing various difficulties in meeting with their GST
obligations and they frequently contact the Range Officers for solving their
problems. The Department has already communicated the mobile numbers of the
Range Officers to the assessees and for this reason, the officers have to spare
a good time for solution of the problems being faced by the Taxpayers.
(B) The GST network is not
perfectly developed till date:- It goes without saying that the GST network is still in
the process of development. The Taxpayers as well as the departmental officers
have been facing a number of troubles on the system. The solution to these
problems is awaited from higher levels. The system is slow and takes a lot of
time. The electronic working is not smooth, user friendly and time saving as was
expected.
(C) Insufficient
information given by the system:- Previously, in pre-GST regime, the details/ figures of
turnover, value and duty/tax paid in cash and through credit account were being
obtained from the individual assessee every month. The data so obtained was
used to maintain assessment register reflecting complete details (commodity
wise/service wise) in respect of individual assessee. This data was useful and
also helpful in generation of any kind of information like commodity wise duty
payment, service wise tax payment, top assessees, top commodities, top services
audit schedule etc. This data was also useful for preparation of information
pertaining to the parliamentary questions, RTI etc. However, the system now is
providing only raw data in respect of taxpayers and that too incomplete. Such
data has to be further processed for adhoc reports, parliament question, RTI
applications etc. Therefore, the time consumed in reporting has not been
reduced but increased.
(D) Continuation of reports:- It was expected that the GST
network would well prepare all source of information required for the purpose
of indirect tax administration and no report would be required to be prepared
by the subordinate offices/field formations. But the authorities at different
levels are seeking reports from their subordinate offices/field formations
continuously. The most of the times, the reports are called on urgent and
immediate basis creating panic and pressure. Unlike the previous tax regime,
such reports are forwarded to the Range levels. The GST system frequently fails
to provide the necessary content for generating the reports resulting in
consumption of huge time.
(E) Field works
required to be conducted in GST regime:- Needless to say that any type of
tax generates the revenue for the Government but evasion of the tax also goes
simultaneously. There will always be evasions and litigations in any kind of
tax regime on account of the tax evasion. The GST Law has also provided
preventive measures to curb evasion of tax. There are provisions of checking of
e-way bills on roadsides, scrutiny, audit, searches etc. for the safeguard of
revenue. Such provisions require the officers to visit out of the office
leaving aside the table works having no limit of time. Such field works can only be performed manually and the computer system
is of no use for this purpose. Presently, the staff available does not
suffice to meet the requirements of the fieldworks due to acute shortage of
manpower. In the case of the officers being engaged in the field works, the
official table works remain held up completely because the Range Offices are
being run by only one Superintendent and less than one Inspector and many of whom
are having additional charges. Thus, much more manpower is required for an
efficient field as well as office working.
(F) Issues relating to
notices, adjudications, recoveries, litigations etc.:- The issues relating to the
notices, adjudications, recovery of tax & other dues, litigations etc. are
almost the same as were in the previous tax regime. These all used to take
considerable time and will continue to demand more time and mental as well as
physical labour in the present system also. The electronic system will be of no
use for the aforesaid procedures and such works are to be carried out manually
only.
(G) Legacy works:- The legacy works pertaining to the Central Excise Act,
1944 and the Finance Act, 1994 are not over till date. The officers have been
directed to carry out the scrutiny of the returns. There are also the cases of
verification of the third party data received from the Income Tax Department
which requires the officers to verify the taxability and tax payment of the
amounts received by the parties. This verification is time consuming.
Similarly, the detailed scrutiny of ST-3 Returns is also under process.
Furthermore, there is no way to dispense with the cases of recovery of the
Government dues since most of the cases are lying in appeal with higher
authorities and courts. These cases demand attention and time on regular basis.
The legacy works with the department cannot be ignored and the same is also the
significant reason of overburdening of the officers working in Range Offices.
8.
In nutshell, the officers working in the Ranges are
performing the following work functions among others-
1.
Generation of revenue reports from the AIO
dashboard and compilation of the same.
2.
Processing of amendment in
registration/cancellation of registration requests/amendment in Email Id,
professional address and phone numbers of the assessees.
3.
Handholding/guiding and clarifying the
issues being faced by the tax payers and taking up the issue at the appropriate
level so that the problem faced by the tax payers get resolved.
4.
TRAN-I verification of the list supplied by
the Headquarters and necessary correspondence with the tax payers for
verification of the documents on the basis of which they have taken the credit.
TRAN-1 verification starting from old returns, sensing doubtful/abnormal
credit, checking various documents with GST transitional provisions.
5.
Verification of the difference between
GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B figures and reporting of the same.
6.
Identification of non-filers and issuing
notices to the defaulters as persuasive measure so that returns are filed along
with payment of due tax liability.
7.
Visit to non-filers, which itself is time
consuming keeping in view the shortage of the manpower.
8.
Verification of the difference between
credit taken in GSTR-2A and GSTR-3B figures and reporting of the same and in case of discrepancy, taxpayer is asked to
reverse the excess credit in the GSTR-3B return to be filed in the succeeding
month.
9.
Processing of GST Refunds/consequential
relief refunds in a time bound manner.
10.
Initiating registration cancellation
proceedings on voluntary surrender requests of the tax payers after determining
the tax liability.
11.
Refund claim received from the states for
payment through PFMS, random checks of returns for revenue and other reports
like MPR, periodical reports with ad-hoc reports/informations and other areas
of work.
12.
Study of legacy laws, GST laws
(transitional provisions) for understanding and proper invocation consuming
time and requiring brain storming.
13.
A number of meetings/video conferences means
a lot of time and effort being devoted in preparation and compliance for almost
all officers.
14.
Tax arrears recovery involving persuasive
action and necessary correspondence with various authorities for identification
of the assets/property and subsequent reminders for seeking desired information
along withvisits to the premises of the defaulters.
15.
Legal matters–drafting
and filing of appeals and submitting them to the CESTATs and higher Courts,
which also involve long travels to the place of court.
16.
A number of
programmes like Swwachta Pakhwada, Vigilance Pakhwada, Special refund drives
fortnights, taxpayer outreach programmes/handholding of assessees, preparation
and compliance for inspections by higher authorities, DGPM, parliamentary
committee on Raj Bhasha, CERA audit and other agencies
17.
Issuance of Show Cause Notices pertaining
to the Superintendent competency and drafting/forwarding of Show Cause Notices
to Asstt. Commissioner/Joint Commissioner/Commissioner of their competency well
in time.
18.
Delivery of Personal Hearing letters/Show
Cause Notices/Order-In-Originals and Order-In-Appeals received from other
divisional formations/ Hqrs and drawing Panchnama on the spot, if the assessee
is not available at the given address.
19.
Verification of the invoices/documents
mentioned in the letters received from other Divisional formations/Commissionerates
and submit the verification report to Division office for forwarding it to the
respective jurisdiction under dated acknowledgement.
20.
Aiding the Hqrs (Preventive/Anti Evasion)
staff in their operation as and when they require for carrying out necessary
proceedings.
21.
DAK correspondence/email checking and
taking requisite action thereon accordingly.
22.
Officers from Ranges are also deputed for
E-way bill checking.
23.
Preparation of weekly reports on refunds,
daily registrations, Suo Moto cancellation and non filers.
24.
Preparation of fortnightly reports on
Non-Filers, GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B difference, GSTR-2A and GSTR-3B difference,
uploading of GST refund report on DDM, TRAN-1 credit verification.
25.
Preparation of MPR (Revenue and Non-Revenue)
updation of the arrear cases and reporting recovery affected in the monthly TAR
report sent to the Hqrs.
26.
Preparation of the Third Party report and
taking requisite action for affecting recovery and safeguarding Government
revenue by issuing Show Cause Notices wherever required.
27.
Updation and review of the Anti Evasion
legacy cases and taking requisite action accordingly.
28.
Updation of various registers including GST
refund registers/records and prepare abstract on monthly basis.
29.
Updation and submission of TRAN-I
verification report on monthly basis.
30.
Attending the Court proceedings in the
prosecution cases and taking necessary correspondence with the
witnesses/formation to be resent for examination/cross examination.
31.
Follow up enquiry
in cases booked by Anti-Evasion/Preventive.
32.
Writ petitions
received seeking para wise comment from GST policy wing.
33.
Dealing with PMO
references, Parliamentary questions, RTIs, CPGRAMs etc.
34.
Helping and providing the visiting A.G.
(Audit) teams with documents and records asked for conduction of the audit
proceedings of Range office as well Division office.
35.
Preparation of various miscellaneous
reports asked from higher formations like SIIB, DGCI etc.
36.
Preparation of Inspection Note and updation
of records on visits by the higher authorities for the Division office as well
as Range offices for conducting the yearly Inspection.
37.
Holding the charge of DDO due to acute
shortage of AOs.
38.
Writing letters
to the tax payers to seek clarification and submit requisite documents for
verification.
39.
Verifying that
credit available on capital goods is not taken 100% during the first year in
their book of accounts.
40.
Checking of the
succeeding GSTR-3B return to ascertain that the credit has been reversed and
debited.
41.
Physical Verification in connection to the
advisory for Physical Verification of Registration issued by the DGS&DM.
9. No need
to say that there may be many other unforeseen and unseen various types of
works being performed by the officers working in the Ranges. In actual terms,
they are being used as multi-purpose tools in our organization including
official as well as unofficial purposes/protocols.
10.
Accordingly, the works being performed in the Range offices may be briefed as
below-
A. Legacy
issues
A1. RnC work
A2. Preliminary Scrutiny
A3. Detailed Manual Scrutiny
A4. Third Party Investigation
A5. Draft SCN
A6. Preparing Regular Monthly
Reports
A7. Comments on Reply to SCN
A8. Arrear Recovery
A9. Interest calculations
A10. Interrogatory
statements
A11. Adjudication orders
A12. Serving of SCNs and
Adjudication orders
A13. Compliance of Audit Reports
A14. Data analysis to detect cases
A15. Ad-hoc Reports in new formats
on urgent requirement
A16. Check & verify challans
deposited against CEX ST
B. GST issues
B1. Registration & Migration
B2. Generation of new user id/pwd
B3. Cancellation of Registration
B4. Tracing of non-filers
B5. Notice to non-filers
B6. Personal Hearing to non-filers
B7. Tracing of late filers
B8. Notice to late filers
B9. Interest calculation and
notice to late filers
B10. Suo-moto cancellation Notice
to non-filers of GSTR3B
B11. GSTR3B vs GSTR1 mismatch
check
B12. Notice on B11 above
B13. Cash-Credit Ratio on GST
payments
B14. Match Cash-Credit Ratio of
post-GST vs pre-GST and analyse reasons for changes
B15. GSTR3B vs GSTR2A
B16. TRAN1 verification
B17. Remove data on late fee paid
from Reports of AIO to get cash paid in GST
B18. E-way Bill verification
B19. Verification and Report
on Refund Issues
B20. Ad-hoc Reports on new formats
on urgent requirement
B21. Inspection and search
operation under GST
B22. Data analysis to detect fraud
of GST
B23. Interrogatory statement
before SCN
B24. Issue SCN under S73 and S74
B25. Adjudication
B26. Helpdesk
B27. Address verification
B28. Processing of GST refund
B29. E way bill checking.
B30. GST Registration issue
B31. Monthly/ Fortnightly meeting
with Division & Hqrs.
B32. Inspection/Audit of Range by
CERA Audit team and rectification work thereof
B33. Inspection by AC/DC.
B34. Various regular reports
B35. Keep ourselves updated with
the daily changing effects of GSTN Council meeting, Notification, Circulars,
Act and Rules.
11. If we talk only in
terms of single point of refund, no need to say that this process in itself is
very complicated and
lengthy. This process of disposal of GST refund may be taken into account while
evaluating the performance/workload of Superintendents and Inspectors working
in the Range offices as every work being done by them may be lengthy, time
consuming and complicated in practical terms. Different Stages of GST refund
processing are depicted as below after the receipt of GST refund claim:
1.
Individual file is
opened after making entry in File Opening register,
2.
Entry is made in
respective refund register prescribed for the purpose,
3.
After initial checking, if need be, deficiency
memo is issued to the party in time bound manner and entry is made in
respective register,
4.
After receipt of reply
from the party in r/o deficiency memo, again entry is made in respective register,
5.
Then the claim is
checked with respect to completion of documents. If found in order,
acknowledgment is issued in time bound manner. A unique number is allotted to
the acknowledgment letter and entry is made in respective register,
6.
Copy of the claim is
sent to the jurisdictional Range Superintendent for verification of the claim/
pending dues against the party,
7.
After initial checking
of the documents, 90% of the claimed amount is sanctioned within 7 days in
RFD-04. A unique number is allotted to the RFD-04 and entry is made in
respective register,
8.
In case of Central
Tax, Payment Advice in form RFD-05 is issued to the party and a copy to the
A.O./P & A.O. A unique number is allotted to the RFD-05 and entry is made
in respective register,
9.
Then, RFD-04 and claim
of the party are scanned and provided to the Divisional Assistant Commissioner
for sending to the SGST/A.O. of the Division, as the case may be.
10.
One original copy of
the order and copy of the claim is also sent to the A.O. for sending the same
further to P & A O.
11.
In certain cases where
refund amount appears to be inadmissible, SCN in form RFD-08 is issued to the
party and entry is made in respective register.
Thereafter, adjudication procedure is adopted to dispose off the case.
After adjudicating the SCN, refund procedure is again initiated on merit of the
case.
12.
After issuing provisional refund order, the
case is taken up for final order in time bound manner. At this stage, all
documents are required to be scrutinized. After scrutiny of the documents,
inadmissible amount/adjustment is deducted and final order in RFD-06 is issued.
A unique number is allotted to the RFD-06 and entry is made in respective
register,
13.
Again, in case of
Central Tax, Payment Advice in form RFD-05 is issued to the party and a copy to
the A.O./P & A.O. A unique number is allotted to the RFD-05 and entry is
made in respective register.
14.
Then, RFD-06 and claim
of the party are scanned and provided to the Divisional Assistant Commissioner
for sending to the SGST/A.O. of the Division, as the case may be.
15.
Brief Note/Review Note
of the case is prepared and sent to the Review Branch alongwith copy of the
RFD-06.
16.
Entire file is sent to
the Audit branch for post audit alongwith copy of the RFD-06. The assiduous
task of photocopying the entire file is done so that shadow file is kept in the
branch for future reference.
17.
Then, the inadmissible
amount/rejected amount is required to be re-credited in ECL of the party by issuing
RFD-01B/ PMT-03.
18.
Apart from above,
there are many weekly/ fortnightly and monthly reports in r/o refund which are
sent to Headquarters. Sometimes, reports on daily basis are also called by the
Headquarter office.
19.
Work related with
Nodal Officer:The work related with Nodal Officer requires one person dedicated
for this task only. A lot of RFD-04 and RFD-06 orders are received from Nodal
Officer of SGST department through e-mail on daily basis. After taking print-out
of the said orders, copies of the orders are sent to respective jurisdictional
Assistant Commissioners for necessary action. In the respective Division,
Payment Advice in r/o RFD-04/ RFD-06 orders is prepared and sent to A. O./
P& A.O. for payment. A separate file for this purpose is being maintained
in the Division.
20.
Similarly, Nodal
Officer has to forward all the RFD-04/ RFD-06 orders passed by CGST Divisions
to the Nodal Officer of SGST department through e-mail for further necessary
action at their end.
12. Some of the major reasons causing problems
and troubles at Range level are as below:-
1.
Slow speed of GST Portal.
2.
Applications of GST portal are not in
consonance with the requirement of report generation as desired.
3.
Sometimes, assessee applying for
registrations or LUTs for export online do not get their work done in time due
to some statutory requirement or some technical glitches but all such work is
being dealt at CPC and aggrieved person contacts for resolution of the issues
in local office. System generated mail or CBEC Mitra helpline instructs him to
contact to local authorities but local authorities are not in the position to
solve the problems as their portal does not support so. Aggrieved persons/their
consultants argue endlessly and both time and energy of Range Officer is wasted
in such replies.
4.
Retrieval of data from GST portal is
herculean task as officer has to check details month wise, assessee wise first
and then to compile as desired. For example, list of registrants is not in
chronological order on the portal, revenue comparison for a particular period
tax payer wise or HSN wise is not available.
5.
The most of the Range officers are having
additional Charge of Division and of Headquarters. All works are to be dealt on
priority as all are time bound and of priority.
6.
The miscellaneous work of regular reports,
day to day reports, reports from GST portal for which system is not inbuilt,
letters of PH, Show cause Notices, Adjudication orders, Personal hearings,
letters returned undelivered, issuing reminders, visiting places/sites for service
of notices, work as Com Admin and GST cell, persons visiting for their queries
in GST help desk etc. require more efforts which may take substantial time.
7.
It is not possible to search the tax payer
by its trade name on Range GST Portal. If any officer wants to enquire the GST
compliance of his jurisdiction by its name, it is not possible until one has
PAN number of the party.
8.
GST portal on OIA logs out automatically
and again logging takes time.
9.
In ACES, to scrutinizer-1/ER-3 or ST-3
returns of any assessee for each return from the list appearing, one has to
fill the assessee details, date and time period each time which consumes much
time.
10. All
Ranges and additional work allotted to Range Officers are being dealt with
acutely short manpower. There is no availability of ministerial staff for
support work. There is need for proper
allocation of contingentsfor each Section on account of insufficient
sepoys/havaldars available for manual work of office, arranging files, file
movement, making Photostat copies and
arranging them in order particularly for preparing SCNs and in adjudication
etc. All these works require responsibility, know-how of office procedure,
substantial time and energy. So, skilled contingents are need of the day. This
situation is overall affecting performance of Range Superintendent and his/her
only one or half Inspector.
11. Sometimes, Range staff is not in position to
understand the importance of reports asked all of a sudden. For example, report
of Cancellation of Registration started to be asked suddenly is being asked now
weekly and even daily. Once screen shots of Range Officer GST portal were asked
along with report (by Lucknow CCO) on Whatsapp. This report was recently asked
updated up to 13th Nov, 18, then up to 15th Nov, 18 for
CC Level Video conference. Range Officers have to work in hurry as pendency is
required to be NIL. If all cancellations filed by the tax payers are to be
approved in speedy manner, such requests are not required to come to backend
GST portal of Range Superintendent.
12. It
is also on record that work is also done on weekends by the Range staff either
under instructions of the Department or by own volition of the Range Officers
to evade any unwelcomed situation in the matters which are time bound. Availing
leaves has become the matter of past.
13. Thus, the practice of seeking every report or comments
every time from Range level should be examined in the light of monthly reports
and other letters sent by the Range and their availability on GST or ACES
portal. If any report is possible to be generated from higher level in
totality, it should not be asked from Ranges as efforts are multiplied in that
proportion. The Standard Formats of Daily/Weekly/ Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly
reports should also be made in ZCDR (Zone, Commissionerate, Division, Range)
stages, so that all other reports may be generated from those reports. In case
of any new report, sufficient time and its GST/ACES path and guidelines may be
provided in covering letter as much confusion remains and each Range interprets
in its own way. For example, if GST revenue and Non GST revenue comparison is
asked over two years, it should be cleared which components whether VAT,
CENVAT, other taxes subsumed in pre GST era or Central Excise Duty, Service
Tax, Cesses etc. has/ have to be included in Non GST Revenue and which
components whether CGST, SGST, IGST, ITC of each, Cess etc. has/have to be
included in GST Revenue. CENVAT revenue of pre GST era is not available in
reports generated from ACES. It may be arrived only by opening each
monthly/quarterly/half yearly return filed by each tax payer at that time. Such
calculation is not possible by available means in the present situation. Online
Path to arrive at monthly data of GST registrants or data for comparative
revenue analysis of top taxpayers of Range or data of non-filers who have filed
returns and revenue deposited by such filers is not known to the Range. Such
reports asked in urgent manner on Email/Whatsapp worsen the situation of work
load in more stressful way.
14. The letter of the Chief commissioner of
Chandigarh/Panchkula and also your office response on the same irrespective of
outcome are self-explanatory to depict the acute work-burden being faced by the
officers working in the Range Offices.
15. The above submissions have been made with the request to
allot more manpower to Range Offices, especially looking into the circumstances
that the most of the officers are having additional charges. The additional
charges mean doubling/tripling of workload and official troubles. Immediate
provision for infrastructure for officers to carry out the physical
verification of registration, e-way bill verification, necessary smartphones
and vehicles are also required to be provided to commensurate with the work to
be done alongwith taking due steps regarding all of above submissions.
Thanking you,
Yours
sincerely,
Sd.
(RAVI
MALIK),
Secretary General.
