Should GST Compliance Tool be kept Private or Turned into a Government Body?

The moment the Goods and Services Tax Act rolled-out in India, the government also established its backbone GSTN. The GSTN (Goods and Services Tax Network) is a private body that stands responsible for the pros and cons of the indirect taxation regime to a great extent. But the government has all of a sudden began enforcing the GSTN to become an integral part of the government. However, GSTN has been walking hand-in-hand with the government and resolved every problem whether it was the crash of the portal or the complexity of the regime.

The right of the government

Since the whole and sole reason behind the formation of the Goods and Services Tax Network was to support GST, the government has full rights to mingle it with the government or else let it be a private entity only. However, there is a strong buzz around the corners of the Goods and Services Tax Act system that the GSTN will be turned into a governmental body. As of now, the portal has successfully completed a year and five months of strenuous development and service.

For the general public of the nation, the portal acts as the most authentic and reliable GST compliance tool. Most of the businesses still aren’t exposed towards the right usage of the technology to comply with the Goods and Services Tax Act. Both the government and the GSTN portal developers anticipated the complications that are now faced by the taxpayers of the nation. Due to the federal powers of the nation, the government had to make sure that the regime serves both the center and state governments equally.

The Right to Information Act

Since India is a democratic nation, it provides its citizens with the right to know everything that is of their personal or public interest. And in every nation the processes like the taxation and voting are the most credible way to highlight a person’s economic value. The Right to Information Act came into the full force in the year of 2005 in India. Its main objective is to keep the citizens of the nation informed of the government initiatives and keep the democratic aspect of the constitution intact.

The GSTN follows the government procurement tool. It also comes under the effect of Right to Information Act. That directly implies that even if a taxpayer is taking the assistance of GST compliance tool, he can question the body for any taxation-related or general query. However, the GSTN facilitators strongly believe that the government must be having a substantial need to merge GSTN with the government itself.

A unique hiring policy

The GSTN is advised to follow the basic rules and regulations mapped out by the government in order to make the functioning of the technology providing body seamless. Although the government has restricted the GSTN members to follow its rules, the authority to take decisions on a personal level is also catered uniformly. The hiring and firing process inside the premises of Goods and Services Tax Network is peculiar in the terms of the way they deal with the applicants. The government has put a strenuous load of performing and delivering the best on the shoulders of GSTN members in order to make the idea of GST a success throughout the nation.

The GSTN board members play a vital role in the hiring of the employees. And in case an employee is not performing as per the benchmarks and requirements of GSTN, he is given a chance to improve. And if he still fails to improve, then he is fired straight out. Another important thing to notice about the GSTN is that the entire process from the hiring to remuneration match the standards of the private sector.

Conclusion

If the government would merge the GSTN with itself, then there are high chances that the processing of the GSTN would become sluggish. The reason being the establishment of more than a year and the formation of the strategies as per the aspects of the private industry. Until the regime becomes stable the government should not implement any forceful actions on the GSTN to convert it into a governmental body. Once the regime gets stabilized, the government should make a final move to make GSTN a part of the government.

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