95% assessees in zone migrate to new regime

NASHIK: The offices of sales tax and central excise here have geared up to ring in the goods and services tax (GST) regime coming into effect from July 1. Around 85% of their tax assesses have migrated to GST and they have also provided help desks for tax payers.
Joint commissioner, sales tax, conducted a final workshop for their officials and employees on Friday, informing them about the GST guidelines.The sales tax department has been renamed as state department of GST, while the central excise commissionerate will be known as the GST commissionerate.
An official from the sales tax department, said, "We are fully prepared for the GST regime. There are no changes in areas and staff. Only the way of working will change due to the introduction of the new tax system."
The Nashik zone of the department of the GST will include three regions -- Nashik (Nashik and Malegaon districts), Jalgaon (Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar districts) and Aurangabad (Aurangabad, Jalana, Beed and Parbhani districts).
"There are 1.13 lakh active dealers registered with the sales tax department in Nashik zone. Of which, 55,804 have migrated to GST, while around 50,000 have done provisional registration as they have yet to submit the digital signature or documents like Aadhaar cards. They will have to compete the migration within three months. It means, around 95% of total tax assesses have migrated to the GST so far," said an official from the sales tax department.
The Nashik region has 43,000 active dealers. Of which, around 85% have migrated to the GST.
The office of the commissioner of central excise, customs and services has also prepared for the GST. From July 1, this office will be known as Central GST, Central Excise and Customs Commissionerate.
The Union finance ministry has created two posts -- commissioner (audit) and commissioner (appeal) -- in Nashik for monitoring and overseeing the new tax regime. Their offices will have jurisdictions over five districts of north Maharashtra and eight districts of Marathwada. Earlier, the office of commissioner (audit) was based in Aurangabad and the office of commissioner (appeal) was located at Nagpur.
An official from the central excise department said, "Our staff is ready and the computer system has been updated. Our GST Suvidha centres are also operational. We are celebrating the first day of GST. We have invited trade and industry people and will know their views and difficulties about the GST."
Sources from the office of the central excise commissioner (Nashik region) also said, "We had 5,000 assesses. Of which, around 95% have migrated to GST. We are fully prepared for the GST rollout."