BASIC CONCEPTS OF GST (PART- 10)

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

Organizational Structure proposed under GST

The organizational structure under the GST regime should be on functional basis rather than on territorial jurisdiction basis. The present organizational structure is based on territorial jurisdiction and one office i.e. Range handles all the different functions pertaining to units falling under their jurisdiction. Thus, one office handles the various functions of registration, audit, refund, adjudication, legal, recovery, taxpayer services etc.

Under GST, it is proposed that different divisions of an office should handle different functions of registration, audit, refund, adjudication, legal, recovery, taxpayer services etc. This has been done to encourage specialization as well as better organizational structure. The new structure would be having:

Organizational Structure for GST
Audit Commissionerate	Anti-Evasion Commissionerate	GST Commissionerate

Audit Commissionerate

Present scenario: At present, the Audit work in Central Excise Commissionerate is done by the Audit teams which work under the direct supervision of an AC level officer who reports to the Commissioner. This is the case where units are located at one place. In the case of Multi Locational units (MLU) belonging to same assessee is co-ordinate by the office of ADG (Audit).

Proposal for GST 

• It is proposed that separate and exclusive Commissionerate should be set up for audit work.
• For the taxpayers having Multi-locational units (MLU) in a state, for high revenue-paying units and for some of the complex business sectors, it is recommended that the Audit must be conducted by Audit Commissionerate.
• For other assessee, it is proposed that the jurisdictional GST Commissionerate should do the Audit work.
• It is proposed that in Audit Commissionerate there should be specialized Cells for specific industry or sector.
• It has also been suggested that these specialized groups may provide policy inputs to the Board also.
• It was proposed that the entire staff of Audit Commissionerate is not required to be centralized at the headquarters.

Anti-Evasion Commissionerate

Anti-evasion work is done by three types of teams –

(i) Anti-evasion wing of the Commissionerate Headquarters;

(ii) Preventive units of the Divisions; and

(iii) Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI).

Out of the three, the DGCEI is carrying out the work of intelligence and investigation at national level. It is top-ranked of three as regards quality of cases booked, value of goods and amount of duty involved in offence cases.

Proposal for GST

• It is proposed that the anti-evasion work should be handled by a more specialized and exclusive Anti-evasion Commissionerate.
• In case of certain states where there are smaller numbers of taxpayers like in North-eastern states, Uttarakhand etc., one anti-evasion Commissionerate may have jurisdiction over more than one State.
• In the States like Maharashtra and Gujarat where one state may require more than one Anti-evasion Commissionerate more than one anti-evasion Commissionerate is required.
• It was also proposed that the entire staff of Anti-evasion Commissionerate is not required to be centralized at the headquarters.

GST Commissionerate

There are three types of GST Commissionerate to be set up. This has been done keeping in mind the fact that taxpayers within a state and amongst the states are not uniformly located. Also, some assessee has more than one premise in a state. It has also been considered that now CBEC will be administering manufacturers, types of dealers, service providers and inter-State dealers.

Thus, it has been provided that a uniform organizational structure for the entire country would not work and different types of organizational structure is required depending upon dispersal/diversity of assessee in an area.

(To be continued…………)

Discussions to this article

[swaminathan venkataraman]

Spontaneous

GST is, as generally understood, a national code, intended and expected to be implemented and enforced uniformly across the country, the state barriers not coming in the way and leading to any influence / impairment in doing so. Perhaps, while one is not quite clear, the learned writer, it appears, is inclined to the said view as is gathered, though not made explicit, from the very opening sentence of the write-up. Should that be so, and if that were the view finding favour with the experts at large (open to correction, if wrong), then the matter might be worthwhile taking up with the highest authority , sooner than later, to the end of having the entire scheme of things as presently envisaged , revamped, appropriately, beforehand.

The learned expert may wish to bring out sufficient clarity, for the common good.

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

Yes, This call should be taken by the empowered committee and professional bodies and apex chambers may take up this issue at the appropriate forum and time.