In the run up to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to be rolled out from July 1, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) will become operational from June 1, replacing the current Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The implementation of new board for indirect taxes-CBIC, will remove need of different commissionerates for service tax, central excise and others and there will be only one body-Commissionerate for GST.
The CBIC will have 21 zones, 101 GST Tax payer Services Commissionerates comprising 15 sub-commissionerates, 768 Divisions, 3,969 Ranges, 49 Audit Commissionerates and 50 Appeals Commissionerates. This will ensure rendering of taxpayer services to all taxpayers through an indirect tax administration structure with a pan-India presence.
At present, the CBEC is the apex policy-making body for indirect taxes in the country. Recently, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley approved the reorganisation of the field formations of the CBEC for the implementation of GST. The CBEC is taking all requisite steps to ensure that the administrative machinery is geared up to address these challenges in the GST regime.