NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Even as awareness camps on Goods and Service Tax (GST) are being held in different cities, Goa’s first test run of the GST online system conducted among 61 tax payers was successful, according to a senior official of the commercial tax department on Wednesday.
The official said that the test run carried out over a 15-day period was to check the reliability of the online system. “It was smooth and no major glitch in the software was encountered by local units that participated in the test run,” he said.
Selection of the units was from each ward and was varied. It ranged between manufacturing units, small traders, C&F agents of large companies like Nestle and even a nationalised bank – Punjab National Bank (PNB).
“The bank transferred money from one account to another and the fund transfer was through e-payment and on the GST system,” pointed out officials from the department. He said that participants were asked to give online feedback to the central GST office.
The test run was part of an all-India project initiated by the central government to check the effectiveness of the GST system among 100 dealers in every state. The department in Goa had put forward names of about 70 dealers of which 61 were found suitable.
“More trial runs are expected in June with the approaching deadline of the forthcoming tax being July 1,” said sources in the department. “The country-wide trial runs carried out from May 1-15 is the first step to testing the infrastructure of the GST system and more such runs are necessary,” said department officials.
Meanwhile, to create awareness on GST among local units, the commercial taxes department is holding trade camps across the state. Camps are being conducted in five major cities of which Ponda, Panaji and Mapusa is completed, Vasco camp is on May 18 and Margao on May 22. The trade camps are receiving robust response with roughly 200 company representatives attending them.
Other than the camps conducted by the commercial tax department, the three trade bodies – GCCI, CII-Goa and the GSIA are also contributing on GST awareness.