Excise board notifies anti-profiteering rule

In tune with the July 1 roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax regime, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) on Tuesday notified the anti-profiteering rule approved by the GST Council on June 18.

The anti-profiteering authority, comprising a Chairman and four technical members nominated by the Council, will identify registered persons/businessmen who have not passed on the benefit of reduced tax on goods/services or benefit of input tax credit to recipients by way of reduced prices.

It has the power to impose penalty on offenders and even cancel the registration of the trader(s).

The rule will apply to all states except Jammu and Kashmir.

The anti-profiteering authority will have a sunset clause of two years, meaning it will cease to exist thereafter.

The Council had approved the structure and rules relating to an anti-profiteering authority in its June 18 meeting.

"We want to keep it as a deterrent and hope we are not compelled to use the authority," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that under the proposed authority, a company can be asked to roll back the prices and also refund an amount equal to the profit it has made through the hike in prices.

--IANS

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