Recently, an announcement is made by John Joseph, a member of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). As per the announcement made, the Government is planning to introduce a lottery system very soon for the GST taxpayers.
What is the lottery scheme?
To increase the revenue from GST and overcome economic crisis, the Government is coming up with various incentives and schemes. It has also constituted a committee of various GST authorities to recommend measures to increase the collection of GST. Lottery scheme is also a kind of incentive for the registered GST taxpayers.
Every purchase bill uploaded on the online GST portal can now be turned into a price winning lottery ticket. This will provide a chance to the customers to win a big lottery amount. The portal will require the phone number, bill number and GST number of the taxpayer to enter the lottery scheme. Automatically, a computerized draw will be held and the name of winners will be announced on the portal accordingly. This scheme is similar to the ‘Bill Banao Inaam Pao’ scheme introduced by the Government of Delhi in year 2015.
There are 4 slab rates of taxation under GST: 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%. Besides this, cess is also levied on luxurious items.
Reward for the winner
Under the Lottery scheme, a taxpayer may win a reward of an amount ranging from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore. The amount won in the Lottery is credited to the account of the winner from the Consumer Welfare Fund. The amount of the reward in this scheme is so high that customers will be attracted easily to pay GST.
This scheme is made available for the Business-to-Consumer transactions. However, the minimum threshold for bills to be included in the lottery is yet to be decided by the GST Council. Also, electricity bills and water bills will not be included to participate in the lottery scheme.
Benefits of lottery scheme:
The motto of the Government behind introducing this scheme is to encourage the customers to take bills while making purchases. But the lottery scheme will also provide below mentioned benefits to the taxpayers and the Government.
- This scheme will provide a boost to the revenue of the Government.
- It will help to improve compliance and prevent evasion of tax.
- It will lead to a reduction in the number of fake invoices.
- It will enhance the growth of the economy by preventing leakage of tax.
- It will help to ensure whether the GST collected by the traders is deposited with the Government or not.
- It will increase transparency between the traders and the Government.
- Taxpayers will feel motivated to pay tax on goods and services.
- It will encourage customers to make purchases from the dealers registered under GST. Thereby, more and more dealers will register under GST.
