GST - Will CBEC get subsumed?
THE Bill provides for subsuming the various Central and State indirect taxes in the one GST. Several senior IRS (C&CE) officers with whom I discussed the GST issue in the last two days expressed apprehension that the way things are going, the Board itself may get subsumed in a new GST Board run by IAS officers. They are afraid that if the Board does not stake its claim strongly and establishes its authority, the new tax administration may just slip away from its control. They conceded that they were not the best of tax administrators and the laws made by them left much to be desired, but still for want of a better alternative, they were the best ones to run the GST administration. A Chief Commissioner wondered how the Central GST team was going to interact with the counterpart State administration. The Central Administration is an inverted pyramid with an assortment of Principal Chief Commissioners, Chief Commissioners, Principal Commissioners, Commissioners, Additional Commissioners, Joint Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners, while a single Commissioner would head the State GST team, with very few top level officers and a large number of field level staff.