Shimla: Chief Secretary Dr. Shrikant Baldi chaired the GST meeting for improvement in Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue here today. He said that Himachal Pradesh is a small hilly state and has developing economy and efforts are being made by the state government for proper implementation of GST in the State and is laying emphasis on improvement of GST Revenue and tax Collection in the state.
He said that the annual collection of GST revenue in Himachal Pradesh for the year 2018-19 was Rs.3456.98 crores and Year 2019-20 till date was Rs.1828 crore. In the year 2017-18 the annual GST revenue was Rs. 2497 crore in order to improve the GST revenue, he directed the authorities to increase the tax return filing from 75 percent to 95 percent. He said that a major drive should be launched to improve the GST revenue and directed the field authorities to increase the current 75 percent return filing by 30th November, 2019.
Dr. Baldi directed the authorities to increase the number of GST registration. Hotels and homestays to be brought in tax net for which a drive would be started, he said. He also directed the authorities to prepare a proposal to remove the provision of C-Form on the use of petrol and diesel by consumers. In order to increase the sale of automobile within the State, it was purposed to reimburse a portion of SGST to customer for purchase within the state. He said that the reimbursement of tax in SGST would be done for automobile sale, on condition if the dealer passes on the rebate to customer.
He also said that Himachal Pradesh Settlement scheme has been purposed to bring down legacy cases of Pre-GST Regime (VAT Regime). He also directed the authorities to hold a meeting comprising of senior government officers with expertise in this field to explore the possibilities of improvement on the GST revenue.
Principal Secretary Finance Prabodh Saxena, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Kundu other senior officer were also present in the meeting.
