Centre has made GST regime difficult for traders: Mandal

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Our Correspondent

Nurpur, September 21

The Central Government has made the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime more complicated by bringing in numerous amendments, causing hardships to the trading community, said Sumesh Sharma, president of the Himachal Pradesh Veopar Mandal, here today.

He said that the Union Government had made 950 amendments to the GST structure in the past four years without taking the traders into confidence. He lamented that after the amendments the traders were facing a lot of confusion, ambiguity and obstacles. Some of them had been forced to leave their trades, as they could not cope with the complex tax system. He added that the government should sensitise the traders before and after making amendments to the GST to make them aware about the new provisions. “The present structure of the GST has not only made trading a complex affair but has also stamped traders as culprits if they are not aware of the amendments made to the tax structure in the past four years,” he said.

Sharma alleged that the Central Government was yet to set up the GST Appellate Tribunal for addressing the issues of the traders, forcing them to move courts. “The validity of an e-way bill has been fixed at 200 km per day, and a small mistake in calculating the tax amount while generating an e-way bill will invite a 200 per cent penalty. In the event of failure to pay the penalty, the consignment of the trader will be confiscated. If a trader avails of input tax credit by mistake, his bank account will be sealed, besides losing access to the GST portal,” he added.