Tax department to reach out to non filers of return

The tax department has directed its field offices to reach out to businesses that have not filed returns under the GST but were paying taxes in the erstwhile service tax/VAT regime.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has shared the zone-wise data of businesses under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with regional commissioners to handhold them in case they are facing difficulty while filing returns under the new indirect tax regime.

“Field offices know which businesses used to file tax in the earlier regime. Now we have shared with them the initial GSTR-3B return data to match if anyone who is eligible for paying taxes in the new regime is left out,” an official said.