Government brings GSTN under PMLA

Subject :Economy

Section: Fiscal Policy

Concept :

Aiming to plug tax evasion through fake billing, Centre has brought the GST Network (GSTN) under the purview of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). This will give more power to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the anti-money laundering agency, to act against tax evasion within GSTN.
The government through a gazette notification, notified the exchange of information between ED and GSTN under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) to help in such kind of investigations.
The notification is regarding sharing of information between ED and GSTN under section 66(1)(iii) of PMLA
The notification will now facilitate sharing of information or material in possession between ED and GSTN, to check any violations of GST provisions.

Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN)

It is a non-profit organization, owned by government, which manages the entire IT system of the GST portal.
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has built an Indirect Taxation platform for GST to help taxpayers in India to prepare, file returns, make payments of indirect tax liabilities and do other compliances.
It provides IT infrastructure and services to the Central and State Governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders for implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India.
The GST System Project is a unique and complex IT initiative as it established for the first time a uniform interface for the taxpayer under indirect taxes through a common and shared IT infrastructure between the Centre and States.

Mission

Provide common and shared IT infrastructure and services to the Central and State Governments, Tax Payers and other stakeholders for implementation of the Goods & Services Tax (GST).
Provide common Registration, Return and Payment services to the Tax payers.
Partner with other agencies for creating an efficient and user-friendly GST Eco-system.
Encourage and collaborate with GST Suvidha Providers (GSPs) to roll out GST Applications for providing simplified services to the stakeholders.
Carry out research, study best practises and provide Training and Consultancy to the Tax authorities and other stakeholders.
Provide efficient Backend Services to the Tax Departments of the Central and State Governments on request.
Develop Taxpayer Profiling Utility (TPU) for Central and State Tax Administration.
Assist Tax authorities in improving Tax compliance and transparency of the Tax Administration system.
Deliver any other services of relevance to the Central and State Governments and other stakeholders on request.

For further notes on PMLA, Money Laundering, refer – https://optimizeias.com/money-laundering/