No penalty if GST no. not put up outside firms, bizmen told

Ludhiana, May 29, 2023

Allaying apprehensions, the state goods and services tax (SGST) officials have assured the traders and industrialists that those who have not displayed their GST identification numbers (GSTIN) outside their business premises will not face a penalty of Rs 50,000. The businessmen were updated regarding the same by the senior officials of the department.

Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) state general secretary Sunil Mehra, said, “In the last few days, reports have surfaced that during the checking by SGST or centre GST(CGST) teams, if any business premise is found to be without a signboard mentioning its GST number, a penalty of Rs. 50,000 will be slapped on the businessmen. Though no official order was issued in this regard, the reports led to a panic situation in the industry. In order to avoid confusion and harassment of businessmen, we decided to take up this issue with the senior officials of the SGST department. The officials assured us that no such decision had been taken by them.”

Mehra also appealed to businessmen to immediately contact PPBM, in case any official or staff from SGST or CGST threatens them with such penalty.

He said,“We have already forwarded the names of certain officials, who had threatened some businessmen with a Rs 50,000 penalty in absence of display of GST numbers outside their business premises, to the higher-ups.”

PPBM district president Parveen Goel,“We had been getting a large number of calls and messages from traders and retainers from the last few days. They had been asking us about the veracity of the reports. We too were shocked when some of the field officers could not clear the air on this issue, therefore we decided to meet the topmost officials of the tax department. Now, businessmen don’t need to panic.”

[The Times of India]