With Parliament clearing the decks for the establishment of Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal to resolve rising disputes under the nearly six-year-old indirect tax regime, the Revenue Department is in the process of finalising a standard operating procedure (SOP) for officers undertaking intelligence and investigation work.

“With the legal landscape of indirect taxes getting transformed, the need arises to prepare a comprehensive manual and we are working out a codified set of instructions for officers to follow so as to minimise fresh disputes,” a top government official told The Hindu.

Legal challenges

The GST Investigation wing of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), which deals with policy issues relating to enforcement actions such as search, seizure, prosecution and arrest, is drafting the manual. It will include various SOPs and instructions for field formations to abide by, and will be published shortly, the official said.

Over the past couple of years, while the government has taken several steps to clamp down on tax evasion, the number of legal challenges mounted by taxpayers in various High Courts and the apex court have also been rising, in the absence of the dedicated GST Tribunal that were envisaged since the GST regime’s launch in July 2017.

Source: The Hindu
https://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/ahead-of-gst-appellate-tribunals-launch-an-sop-for-investigations/article66679936.ece