2nd National GST Conference held for streamlining GST system

News:The 2nd National GST Conference of the Commissioners of State Tax and Chief Commissioners of Central Tax was held under the chairmanship of Revenue Secretary,Ministry of Finance.

Facts:

About the conference:

• The conference was aimed to build synergy and to share their knowledge and best practices with the intent to bring about uniformity in tax administrations.
• It focused on streamlining Goods and Services Tax(GST) system and plugging revenue leakages.

Key takeaways from the conference:

• The government has decided to constitute a panel of centre and state officials for designing a detailed Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) to check fraudulent GST refund claims and evasion of GST.
• All cases of fake Input Tax Credit, export/import fraud and fraudulent refunds shall also be compulsorily investigated by investigation wing of the Income Tax Department.
• A memorandum of understanding would be signed among the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the GST Network to exchange data through the application program interface. 
• The data would be shared on a quarterly basis instead of being shared on a yearly basis.
• It has also decided to make the GST system aligned with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) for the purpose of getting bank account details and transactions and also PAN-based banking transaction.

Additional information:

About Financial Intelligence Unit(FIU):

• Financial Intelligence Unit was set by the Government of India in the year 2004.
• It is an independent body reporting directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC) headed by the Finance Minister.
• It acts as the central national agency responsible for receiving, processing, analyzing and disseminating information relating to suspect financial transactions.
• It is also responsible for coordinating and strengthening efforts of national and international intelligence, investigation and enforcement agencies in pursuing the global efforts against money laundering and financing of terrorism.