Ghaziabad: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said GST officers should be polite and empathetic in dealing with honest taxpayers and asked them to use technology for faster registration approvals and grievance redressal.
She also asked field formations to “proactively” undertake trade facilitation measures. “There is no iron wall between you and trader, there is thin air. You can understand where the difficulty is, rather than muddy it up any further,” she said.
Speaking at the inauguration of the CGST building in Ghaziabad, the minister flagged the need for timely conclusion of any disciplinary proceedings against officers of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). This would send a clear message from the CBIC board that any misconduct, dereliction of duty or unethical behaviour by officers will not be tolerated.
She said the ultimate goal of tax administration is to make life easy for honest taxpayers and to do that GST officers should follow the laid down SoP and show greater empathy and courtesy.
“It is important that you remain polite. The next-generation GST is not just about rates, slabs, simplification. It should make the taxpayer feel different,” she said, adding that politeness, however, should not be seen as a compromise on enforcement.
While advocating that honest taxpayers should be “honourably treated” Sitharaman also said that laid down SoP should be followed to bring the “bad sheep” to the books. “But don’t look at everybody with suspicion,” the minister said.
“I do not want comfort given to dishonest taxpayers in any way. You do not have to be subjective with them (dishonest taxpayers), there is a laid protocol, deal with them in that way...be polite and get your work done as per the SoP”, she said. The minister nudged officers to make use of technology to reduce the compliance burden on taxpayer seeking GST registration.