The Rajasthan Goods and Service Tax (GST) department in the light of the Budget Speech 2025-26, issued the guidelines for virtual hearing.
Provisions for opportunity of hearing have been made in various sections of the Rajasthan Goods And Service Tax (RGST)/CGST Act, 2017 specially those pertaining to adjudication. determination of lax and appeals under the said Acts.
In Rajasthan, provisions have also been made for faceless scrutiny as well as carrying out of Business Audit and enforcement pertaining to the taxpayers not just by the jurisdictional Proper Officers but also by the officers posted in the Business Audit and Enforcement Wings.
It becomes increasingly difficult for the taxpayers or their authorized representatives to appear in person for submission of documents or for personal hearing.
Therefore, as per para 143 of her Budget Speech 2025-26 pertaining to Ease of Doing Business, the following announcement has been made:-
“143. GST VAT, MV Aet, Stamps Act आदि सभी Taxation सम्बन्धी प्रकरणों में Video Conferencing के माध्यम से सुनवाई की सुविधा उपलब्ध कराये जाने की घोषणा करती हूँ। साथ ही मुख्यालय स्तर से की गई कार्यवाही के सम्बन्ध में जिला स्तर पर Facilitation Desks के माध्यम से Document submission एवं Verification की सुविधा भी प्रदान किया जाना प्रस्तावित है।”
The Budget Speech 2025-26 announced the availability of video conferencing facilities for hearings in all taxation-related matters, including GST, VAT, MV Act, Stamps Act, etc. Additionally, it is proposed to provide document submission and verification facilities at the district level through Facilitation Desks for actions taken at the headquarters level.
Guidelines
During the proceedings in any case pertaining to the said Acts, all hearings shall mandatorily be carried out in virtual mode and no person shall be required to appear in person for personal hearing except with the prior permission of the concerned Additional Commissioner in cases where the taxpayer or his authorized representative has requested in writing for an in-person personal hearing.
The date and time of hearing along with a link for the virtual hearing shall be informed well in advance to the taxpayer or the authorised representative through the registered email id or mobile number giving the details of Proper Officer who shall be conducting the virtual hearing and the application or facility through which the virtual hearing shall be carried out. This link shall not be shared with any other person without the consent of the officer.
In case of any authorized representative representing the taxpayer in virtual hearing, he shall be required to submit his vakalatnama or authorization letter along with the copy of his photo-id card and contact details well in advance to the officer, devoid of which he shall not be allowed to represent the taxpayer.
The Virtual hearing shall be held from the office of the Proper Officer through the pre-intimated application and link provided for the same. The taxpayer or his authorized representative shall be required to download the required application on their computer system/ laptop/ mobile phone before hand and be ready with appropriate network connectivity and ‘ bandwidth for the virtual hearing and join the same at the time and date allocated to them.
In case of any technical issue in connecting for the virtual hearing, the taxpayer or his authorized representative may be joined through t e l – conferencing through mobile phone for which they shall be required to keep their phone(s) available for incoming calls.
All persons participating in the virtual hearing shall be appropriately dressed and shall be required to maintain the decorum and dignity at all times.
The submissions made by the taxpayer or his authorized representative through the virtual hearing shall be noted in writing and a statement of the same shall be prepared so as to be uploaded in PDF format under the respective ‘Proceedings’ tab on the Boweb portal.
After receipt of the said documents, the nodal officer shall arrange for sending them to the concerned officer so as to reach him maximum within five working days.
The proceedings of virtual hearing as well as the documents submitted in the above manner shall be deemed to be valid documents for the purpose of the RGST/CGST Act. 2017 in terms of Section 145 of the said Acts read with Section 4 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
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