GST - Summon senior corporate honchos only if necessary: DGGI
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, AUG 20, 2020: IT may be a lull phase for economic activities and thereby GST revenue collections but GST field formations have begun to tighten screw on assessees on alleged violations of GST laws. To garner revenue, the pressure is being mounted on the top management representatives of the assessees. In some cases, excesses have also been noticed by the top policy makers in the Ministry of Finance.
In this backdrop, the DGGI has cautioned its officials not to summon senior corporate functionaries like CFO, CEO, GMs of large companies or a PSU unless the evidence suggests otherwise. The alert issued to field offices cautions officers against issuing summons to senior functionaries at the first instance. Summons are also not to be issued repeatedly. Summon for personal appearance should be issued only if it is necessarily required.
The caution letter also states that while conducting search, the officers need to be sensitive towards the assessees; special care should be given to elderly, women and children present in the premises under search. Children should be allowed to go to school, after examining of their bags. A woman occupying any premises, to be searched, has the right to withdraw before the search party enters, if according to the customs she docs not appear in public. If a person in the premises is not well, a medical practitioner may be called. Religious sentiments of the person under search should not be hurt in any way.
DGGI communciation also alerts the officers to stick to protocols relating to COVID-19.
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