Karnataka to drop repeat GST notices in closed cases | India Business News

Bengaluru: Karnataka’s commercial taxes department will take steps to withdraw fresh GST notices issued in cases that have already been audited and closed, if affected businesses bring them to its attention, Vipul Bansal, commissioner of commercial taxes in the Karnataka govt, said on Tuesday.The assurance followed complaints from industry representatives about repeat proceedings and short deadlines to respond to tax notices during an interaction with senior tax officials on reforms recommended by the 57th GST Council meeting.“Wherever such cases are brought to our notice, we will take consequent action of actually dropping those notices,” Bansal said, adding that instructions had already been issued to field officers.He acknowledged that notices had been sent to businesses whose cases were already closed. The department had used data analytics to identify cases for scrutiny, and the system became operational around the time the notices were issued, he said.Karnataka also aims to issue notices for audits planned in a financial year before the year begins, giving businesses more time to prepare. Bansal said the department was committed to implementing this.“We are systemically ready. We just need to put it in practice,” he said.Separately, Sanjay Mangal, member (GST) of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), said the board was examining whether central GST audits should cover a single financial year or multiple years.Industry representatives said audits spanning three or four years required extensive documentation, while businesses were given little time to respond. They also raised concerns over the invocation of Section 74 of the CGST Act, which deals with cases involving fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression of facts.Mangal said uniform guidelines on issuing notices would clarify the circumstances in which the provision should be invoked and address its unnecessary use in audit matters.The board would take an internal decision on “whether we have to go for a single year audit or multiple year audit”, he said.