Sikkim becomes the first State to hold the Ist Awareness camp on GST (Goods & Services Tax) when Sikkim Chamber of Commerce organized such camp in association with the Commercial tax Division of Government of Sikkim on 7th Sept 2010 at Gangtok’s renowned hotel Hotel Tashi Delek.

The Camp which was attended by more than 300 representatives from trade,commerce, industry and hotel business from all over Sikkim was inaugurated by Shri H B Rai, Special Secretary, Commercial taxes Department, Government of Sikkim by lighting of lamps. It was followed by the Keynote address by

S.K.Sarda, President, Sikkim Chamber of Commerce.

Shri H B Rai as Chief Guest congratulated the business fraternity for organizing such a grand awareness camp on GST. He gave brief history of the different tax systems that we were following since inception. The Sales tax Act, then the Value added tax and now the Goods & Services tax are all reforms that would

ultimately tend to lower consumer prices by removal of various cascading effects and also to improve the revenue by a more systematic and logical approach by making it IT based to save valuable time and efforts at both the administrator and the dealers’ end. He revealed that several taxes like Excise duty, Customs

duty, Environment Cess, CST, and Vat will all be subsumed in GST and will make the collection process simpler for the State.

Earlier in His keynote address S K Sarda, President of Sikkim Chamber of Commerce dealt at length on Tax reforms in India in general and Sikkim in particular.

“ With the introduction of GST the target of making the whole country as one market will be completed. The movement of goods from production centre to Consuming centre will be fast and tax efficient. Besides, exports will not carry the burden of national taxes thus making it competitive in the international

arena.

In Sikkim, we are proud that our visionary leader Dr Pawan Chamling, Chief Minister is on a reform rally in all sectors of the economy namely Tourism, agriculture, flower culture, industry, hotel business, trade and commerce which all are now flourishing.

The State Commercial Tax Department in tune with national agenda on tax reforms desires to move to GST system with effect from 1.4.2011. This awareness camp is the first awareness camp on the subject through out the country and it is sincerely hoped that all present here today shall immensely benefit from this

workshop and take home food for thought to actively participate in the  growth of Sikkim and the Nation.”

“Here, I would like to put on record that in Sikkim, save and except a few recent pharma industries, the bulk of the economic activity is run by petty to medium traders who cater to day to day needs of the local populace and are mostly miniscule in trade volumes compared to national scale and mostly are one

or two men enterprises.

They have to follow many regulations like Trade licence, PFA, Health License,Labor licence, Pollution license, Drug License, Cess, Vat, Income Tax, professional tax and many such other laws.”

“ We fully understand the need for such taxes, but it would have been better if the procedure of paying fees and getting licenses are made under one roof, so that the usual 30 to 40 days which are lost annually to renew these licenses and completing their formalities and returns are reduced and life made simpler.

We are happy to know that our Hon’ble Chief Minister has recently impressed such need at a meeting with Heads of Government departments.”

Then there were Power Point Presentations with elaborate explanations by the experts from the Commercial taxes Department.

Shri Bikas Diyali, Asst Director, Computer Cell, Commercial Taxes Department through his power point dealt in length on the E services which the department  proposes to introduce like downloading of Way Bills/ C forms/filing returns and Payment of Taxes easy for the dealer thru Internet system.

Shri M N Dahal, Deputy commissioner, Environment Cess, CTD through his power point presentation discussed in length the need for the protection of  environment and assured that the contribution of the environment cess made by dealers will go in for a good purpose of protecting the fragile ecology system

of the State which will ultimately benefit the residents of the State.

Shri Manoj Rai, Deputy Commissoner, Commercial taxes Department then took Power

Presentation on Goods and Services tax (GST) in detail. He informed the elite gathering converged from all over Sikkim on the process and procedure which is  likely to be followed under GST. He apprised the gathering that in the present VAT system only VAT portion charged by the preceeding dealer is allowed to be set off while computing taxes, whereas under the proposed GST regime all other

hidden costs like excise duty, service tax, etc shall also be allowed to be taken credit of, thereby infact lessening the dealers’ cost and offering lower consumer prices.

There was an active interaction between the audience and the officials and sought many clarifications on the GST, Environment Cess and E services.

Mementoes were presented to the guest speakers and officials of CTD department

and vote of thanks was presented by Shri Suresh Agarwal, General Secretary,Sikkim Chamber of Commerce. The whole programme was anchored by Shri Ramesh Periwal