GST officers will soon be allowed to stop vehicles carrying high-value goods for inspection only at their origin and destination states after prior authorisation from a senior officer.
Currently, GST officers can stop vehicles in transit irrespective of jurisdiction and ask for documents.
Under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), an e-way bill is mandatory for transiting goods valued at Rs 50,000 and above both inter and intra states.
The 57th GST Council meeting on October 8 approved that only the state in which the goods started (source state) and the destination state may inspect the goods moving in a conveyance. States along the route will not be able to stop the conveyance.
Once the new provisions are notified, a GST officer will be allowed to stop such vehicles carrying high valued goods only on specific intelligence, and the decision to stop must be authorised in advance by an officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner.
Sources said the e-way bill and other documents are still required and will be matched in the system.
"The decision to allow stoppage of vehicle in transit by a GST officer only at origin and destination is to ensure that there is no fishing expedition.
"Any inspection by an officer will have to be based on inputs," a source said.
Centre had proposed to the GST Council to allow only tax officers at the source state to stop a vehicle for inspection. But states wanted destination state officers' right to inspect as well.
Now, if a goods vehicle moving from Delhi to Punjab gets stopped in Haryana, then the legitimacy of stopping the vehicle in Haryana can be questioned legally by the business, the source said.
GST officers to increase cash tax collection
With the GST rates and processes almost stabilising after nine years of the GST rollout, the Centre and states' tax officers have been told to work towards deepening the taxpayer base, increasing cash tax collections, and using intelligence and deeper data analytics to nab evaders, sources said.
They said e-invoicing for B2C transactions would come into effect from April 1, 2027, with GST Network providing the support system to states to move towards it. GST officers will act as a facilitator for businesses and tell them the audit benefits of the tax department having granular data.
Sources further said that some of the process reforms, including the Rs 10,000 threshold for sending notices, approved by the 57th GST Council meeting, require only changes in rules and could be rolled out sooner.
With the economic benefits of last year's GST rate rationalisation showing results, GST officers will now follow a more "facilitative approach" rather than "mandatory compliance" to show trust in taxpayers.
"We have asked GST officers to increase cash tax collections and use deeper data analytics instead of being too intrusive. Although we have a good number of taxpayers registered under GST, there is scope to widen the base. We have asked states to widen the base," a source said.
Currently, there are about 1.68 crore taxpayers registered under GST.
Centre and state tax officers divide the taxpayers on the basis of a formula. As much as 90 per cent of the taxpayers having turnover below Rs 1.5 crore are handled by state GST administration. The remaining 10 per cent are with the central tax administration.
Taxpayers with turnover above Rs 1.5 crore are divided equally between Central and state tax administration.
Sources said state tax officers should ensure that cash tax collections increase and output tax liability of businesses should not be equal to their input tax credit claims.