Hyderabad, July 22, 2024…. The Federation of Telangana Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) in association with The Telangana Commercial Taxes Department organized an *Awareness Program on “GST Registration & Benefits for Small Traders and Manufacturers at Federation House, Red Hills on Friday.

Dr T.K. Sreedevi, IAS, Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Department, Govt of Telangana was the chief guest. She said GST was a phenomenon reform. GST ensures now indirect tax rates and structures are common across the country, thereby increasing certainty and ease of doing business. It is in its 7 years and going on well. But each state has its development goals. The revenue collection is lower than anticipated. We are falling short of expectations to meet our state’s development goals. If you want Telangana to be the number-one state and if you don’t want your state to borrow and govern, then the citizens must act accordingly. They must come forward and voluntarily pay taxes. We want legitimate revenue for the exchequer. We want industry and trade to partner with the government in this endeavour.

The commissioner also answered several questions asked by industry, associations, trade, and dealers.

I took charge as Commissioner of Commercial Tax six months ago. At that time tax compliance was 68% and it is now 82%. That we could reach because of the constant monitoring. We are planning to reach 90% tax compliance by the end of this month the officer said while addressing a 150-plus gathering comprising of tax consultants, industry representatives, trade body representatives and others, said,

When GST was launched, the registration of GST was considered a matter of great pride. But today if you see 19000 registered companies are not filing returns.

The department has now come out with a GST Registration drive for ten days, said Ms. Samyuktha Rani, Jt. Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Dept, Govt of Telangana. She gave a brief presentation about who should register and other related details.

Registration is required in the State from which he makes taxable supply. GST is a destination-based tax, the tax goes to the “destination” State but registration is in the “Origin State”. Anybody who has a Turnover threshold of Rs. 20 Lakhs, and businesses that are involved in inter-state supply must register among others, she said.

She gave a few observations they found. 23, 374 taxpayers have continuously been under the composition scheme for more than 3 years. The objective of the composition scheme is to bring simplicity and to reduce compliance costs for small taxpayers. According to her 19, 277 taxpayers have not filed returns right from the date of registration. Many organisations who have cancelled their registration earlier, continue to do business. Many companies or individuals are still running business with VAT Registrations. Hoteliers and Restaurants supplying through Swiggy have suddenly cancelled registrations despite having Offline supplies. The department has found that the non-compliance rate is high among Accommodation services and lease rentals

Giving his welcome address, Ashok Kumar Singhal, President of FTCCI said that there are plenty of benefits in many sectors like Hotels, Restaurants, Textiles, MSMEs, Steel, Plastics, Construction and Real Estate and many others.

He sought the officer’s time to present FTCCI’s recommendations on GST as well as Direct Taxes. The same would be subsequently presented to the Finance Ministry and the Chief Minister said Singhal.

Irshad Ahmed, Chairman of GST and Customs Committee of FTCCI giving his opening remarks said GST registration is the gateway to endless possibilities. GST registration allows businesses to grow in a disciplined manner.

Irshad also reminded the officer of the felt demand of Traders in Telangana to make the turnover threshold limit of GST registration for Goods and Services 40 Lakhs, just like many states. It is only in Telangana that the threshold limit for both goods and services is 20 lakhs, which the industry has been demanding for a quite long time to raise to Rs 40 lakh just like in any other states