CBIC to daily monitor MSME grievance on GST, sets up help desks to resolve queries

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) will monitor on a daily basis the grievances of the MSMEs relating to the GST as part of efforts to resolve issues being faced by small businesses in the new indirect tax regime.

The move comes at a time when the government has initiated a major support and outreach programme for MSMEs to ensure growth and expansion of the sector.

The GST help desks have already been set up in all the 80 districts where a 100 day support and outreach programme for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been launched by the government on November 2.

 

The CBIC has now decided to set up a Feedback and Action Room (FAR) under the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax (GST) to record and process all grievances raised by MSMEs, an official said.

The GST help desks will have nodal officers for trade facilitation who would guide the small businesses on their queries surrounding the GST.

These nodal officers would report all the grievances on a real-time basis to the FAR, which would then provide the solution.

"The FAR would comprise of officers from Delhi and NCR. They would compile a master record of all grievances at various stages of resolution, and send a summary report to the Board on daily basis," an official told PTI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 2 launched a slew of measures for the MSME sector, including faster sanction of loans and easier compliance with environmental rules.

Also, GST-registered MSMEs will get a 2 per cent subvention or subsidy on a new loan or incremental loan of up to Rs 1 crore.

The MSME sector constitutes a vast network of over 63 million units and employs 111 million people, contributing around 30 per cent to the GDP. It accounts for about 45 per cent of manufacturing output and around 40 per cent to total exports.

The GST Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister and comprising state ministers as members, had in July allowed companies with turnover of up to Rs 5 crore to file GST returns quarterly, up from the Rs 1.5 crore threshold fixed earlier. The move benefited about 93 per cent of the GST registered taxpayers.