NEW DELHI : Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has started a new initiative of holding meetings with officials of state tax administrations across the country to further boost Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collections, showed an official communication.  

One such meeting has already been held in Karnataka with the idea of exploring a coordinated action plan for revenue augmentation and to explore areas of possible synergies, according to a weekly update by chairman of CBIC Vivek Johri posted on the tax authority’s website. 

This is a new initiative whereby zonal members would cover all formations in their jurisdictions by holding such meetings to devise strategies for revenue augmentation for GST, over the next few weeks, said the communication. 

Greater coordination between central and state agencies for compliance enforcement has become possible after the GST rollout as the tax system is unified. This comes at a time the authorities have from 1 January, tightened rules relating to reporting obligations of tax payers and those relating to powers of officials to do provisional attachment of assets in certain cases to protect government revenue. GST authorities are also extensively using data analytics to detect mis-matches and to identify wrong doers.  

“I would like to nudge field formations to keep a close watch on revenue collections, particularly, IGST import revenue. Our targets may be tough but I am sure that we are equal to the task. Zonal chiefs may continue to monitor revenue collections on a daily basis and make all possible efforts to optimise collections," Vivek Johri said in the communication.  

CBIC has also asked officials to clear pending work in key areas of work including in investigations and vigilance matters by 31 March.