PENALTY MECHANISM FOR ERRING BANKS:
79. At present, banks are subjected to penalty for delayed fund remittances only. Current system of remuneration to banks for collection of Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs duties is determined on the basis of challans. New parameters of bank performance could be developed, based on timely remittance and reporting of error- free data to all stakeholders. A system of incentives / penalties to be administered by the respective Accounting Authority (i.e. if defaults arise in remission of CGST/IGST/Additional Tax, by Accounting Authority of Centre and if defaults arise in remission of SGST, by Accounting Authority of the concerned state) can be built-in, based on a transparent evaluation mechanism of the quality of data of collection reported by banks for accounting and reconciliation purposes. The CGA has suggested that penalties for inaccurate reporting and delayed settlement of taxes is already in place in the case of Direct Taxes and the same may be put in place in GST regime. It is further recommended that a framework of desired features and validations at Banks for collection of taxes under GST regime should be devised by RBI in consultation with the Accounting Authorities. Any bank found not having built capabilities to adhere to the framework, should not be allowed to collect GST receipts. Due care should be taken so that discontinuities arising from manual interventions in the banks’ internal processes are removed. The Committee also recommends that, over a long term, Accounting Authority should develop a service quality rating for the participating banks based on identified transparent and quantifiable parameters.
