Punjab finance, planning, excise and taxation minister Harpal Singh Cheema has issued a directive to maximise taxpayer participation in the GST amnesty scheme introduced for non-fraud cases. The minister emphasised the importance of proactive engagement through comprehensive public awareness campaigns, utilising traditional advertising and social media platforms to inform eligible taxpayers about the scheme’s benefits.
Chairing a meeting with senior officers of the taxation department at Punjab Bhawan, he stressed the need for sensitising the field staff to personally engage with taxpayers and facilitate the application process to “enable taxpayers to avail the benefits of the GST amnesty scheme and facilitate the recovery of revenue currently locked in arrears, thereby bolstering the financial health of the state.”
The scheme, introduced under Section 128A of the CGST Act, aims to ease the compliance burden on taxpayers by waiving interest and penalties on tax demands raised under Section 73. It allows taxpayers to clear their outstanding dues pertaining to the financial year 2017-18 to 2019-20 by March 31. Additionally, the corresponding forms must be submitted by June 30.
He also issued a stern directive to all officers, mandating the attainment of established revenue targets without exception. During the meeting, the finance minister was briefed on the overall revenue growth, with a focus on Value Added Tax (VAT) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections.
As per an official spokesperson, “VAT collection demonstrated a 5.74% increase, while GST revenue witnessed a more substantial growth of 13.39% up to Feb 2025. The divisions of Ludhiana and Amritsar were identified as key contributors to this success, exhibiting above-average performance in GST revenue collection.”
Source #TOI
