HYDERABAD: The Telangana State commercial taxes department will have not more than a three-month window for restructuring itself before the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). The GST is expected to be rolled out on July 1.
With a lot of decisions yet to be arrived at before the implementation of GST, commercial taxes commissioner in Hyderabad pointed out that the restructuring of the department could be possible only after the tax slabs and other parameters are finalised by the Centre. The final draft of the GST was to be finalised at the recent state and central level meeting held on February 18. But only issues pertaining to state compensations were resolved.
The next meeting on GST is expected to be held on March 4 and 5. This leaves Telangana and all other states with just three months to restructure the commercial taxes departments to meet the demands of the bill. The Telangana Commercial Taxes Gazetted Officers Association (TCTGOA) in January had sent the TSCTD a memorandum underlining the steps the department must adopt for a smooth transition into the GST regime.
They proposed the TSCTD to adopt 34 divisions and 160 circles for better implementation of GST. The restructuring of cadres should be along the lines of Central Excise Department and officers of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The need for new posts to meet the work load and the lack of adequate infrastructure to meet GST demands were also pointed out.
“The changes when brought in, will reflect across all states but there is a need to bring the changes before the roll out of GST,” said T T Venkateshwarlu, commercial tax officer and president of TCTGOA.
“There is a lot of difference in cadres of officers in TSCTD when compared to the CBEC officers. There is a need for restructuring taking the CBEC staffing norms into consideration urgently. The training required for officers to meet GSTs demand is over,”he added.
In response to the memorandum, commissioner of commercial taxes, Anil Kumar said, “We can’t make any changes as of now. Various tax slabs have to be finalised before any changes can be made. The draft is not final.”