To expedite action against erring taxpayers under GST, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has written to field formations reiterating that intelligence-based enforcement action could be undertaken by either state or Central tax officials irrespective of administrative jurisdiction.

While the GST Act lays down the jurisdiction of state and Central tax officials over taxpayers, sources said ambiguity on the issue of initiating action was holding up progress in several cases where actionable intelligence existed. The GST Council in January last year had resolved the contentious issue of cross-empowerment of state and Central tax authorities for enforcement action. It was decided that the state tax authority would have administrative control over 90 per cent of the taxpayers falling below the Rs 1.5-crore revenue threshold while the remaining would come under Central tax officials. The taxpayers above this threshold were to be equally divided between the two. The CBIC letter clarified that “the officers of Central and state tax are authorised to initiate intelligence-based enforcement action on the entire taxpayer base irrespective of the administrative assignment of the taxpayer to any authority”. —FE