GST officers will soon be allowed to stop vehicles for inspection only at origin & destination states
New regulations will allow GST officers to halt vehicles carrying high-value goods only at their origin and destination. Prior authorization from a senior officer will be required for these inspections. The new provisions aim to prevent arbitrary vehicle stoppages in transit states, which have been a concern for businesses. E-way bills and required documents will still be necessary for verifying…
Goods and Services Tax (GST) officers will soon be allowed to stop vehicles carrying high-value goods only at their origin and destination states, following approval from the 57th GST Council meeting. Currently, GST officers can stop vehicles in transit across jurisdictions to check for necessary documents. The GST Council approved on October 8 that only the source and destination states may now inspect goods in transit. States along the route will not be able to stop vehicles.
The new provisions allow GST officers to stop vehicles carrying high-value goods with prior authorisation from a senior officer. Any inspection must be based on specific intelligence, and the decision to stop must be authorized in advance. The e-way bill and other required documents must still be matched in the system.
The change aims to prevent unwarranted fishing expeditions by GST officers. Any inspection by an officer will have to be justified by inputs from authorities. While some states wanted destination state officers to have inspection rights, the government proposed allowing only tax officers at the origin state to stop vehicles. If a goods vehicle moving from Delhi to Punjab gets stopped in Haryana, businesses could question the legality of the stop in Haryana.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times - Economy's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
