Tuesday, 10 August 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) department has started a campaign in Dehradun to increase the tax collection and verify the businesses that fail to register under GST across the district. The joint commissioner of the GST department in the district, Rakesh Verma informed that a team of five officials from the department interacted with a total of 150 businessmen in the Paltan Bazaar area of the city for over three hours. Out of these 150 businessmen, 14 were found to be unregistered under GST, said Verma. “These 14 businessmen were made aware of GST regulations and with the procedure to register with the department. They have been directed to register their businesses soon. Many people in the marketplaces are not completely aware of the GST registration and we are trying to maximise awareness through our campaign,” stated Verma. He stated that through this campaign, the department will also narrow down the business owners who falsely claim to be registered under GST.
The department has also asked the businessmen to mandatorily display their respective GST numbers in their shops as well as on the boards outside the shops, informed Verma. After the main marketplaces of Dehradun city, the department will run their campaign in the market areas of Doiwala, Vikasnagar and Mussoorie, added the joint commissioner.
On being asked about whether the department is planning to take any action against those who are not registered under the GST, he said the department is currently focussing on the verification process of GST registration and raising awareness among local businessmen. “We will run this campaign across the district before taking any action. The department is also planning to start camps in marketplaces across the district to educate the local businessmen about GST regulations and make the registration process easy and accessible. If the department will still find unregistered businesses after this whole process, action will be taken against the offenders,” stated Verma.
Verma informed that there are about 1,80,000 businesses in Uttarakhand currently pay GST out of which, about 60,000 businesses are from Dehradun. He asserted that it is mandatory to register such business under GST which has an annual turnover of over Rs 20 lakh.
