Commerce Ministry sets up GST Facilitation Cell

The Dollar Business Bureau 

The Ministry of Commerce on Thursday constituted a Goods and Services Tax (GST) facilitation cell with the purpose to address issues related with the new tax regime with regards to the Foreign Trade Policy.

The facilitation cell is to be constituted in the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) headquarter.

“To ensure smooth and successful rollout of GST, it is decided to constitute a ‘GST Facilitation Cell’ in DGFT Headquarter and all Regional offices of DGFT to serve as the first point of contact for addressing any issues regarding GST in respect of Foreign Trade Policy,” the DGFT said in trade notice (No.08/2018) dated June 8.

Additional DGFT Nikunj Kumar Srivastava will head the GST facilitation cell. It would also have Rakesh Kumar, Joint DGFT and Kaushlendra Pratap Singh, Dy DGFT as its members.

The regional authorities are also advised to set up similar facilitation cells in their offices.

“On the same lines, all regional authorities have been advised to constitute a similar GST Facilitation Cell,” the notice read.

The new GST regime is set to be rolled out from July 1. This new indirect tax regime will subsume a number of central and state levies such as service tax, excise duty, and VAT. 

Last month, the GST Council had fixed the rates for more than 1,200 goods and 500 services under the tax brackets of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.