AITAF urges Jaitley to protect confidentiality under GST

The All India Tax Advocates' Forum (AITAF) on Thursday urged Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ensure confidentiality of the details furnished by tax payers to the tax authorities under the new tax regime of the Goods and Service Tax (GST).

"While framing the GST Rules, adequate safe guards of the information provided like records, accounts, returns and statements to the tax under the new tax system must be ensured and penal provision be made for unauthorised disclosure or leakage of such information," said M. K. Gandhi, President- AITAF.

Referring to the provisions of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, Gandhi clarified that all particulars contained in any statement or documents produced in accordance with this Act are treated as confidential.

"Protection of confidentiality of information submitted to the tax authorities is of extreme importance. Any compromise on this front will jeopardise the competitiveness of business enterprise, which holds key to economic growth," added Gandhi.

The much-awaited GST bill, which was cleared earlier by the Rajya Sabha without amendments, is all set to be rolled out on July 1.

The four bills passed on April 6 - the Central GST bill, the Integrated GST bill, the Union Territories GST bill and the compensation law - have already been cleared by the Lok Sabha, where the government enjoys majority.

Now, a state GST Bill will be presented in the state assemblies for their approval.

The GST rates will be discussed by the GST Council on May 18-19.