Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia on Monday said that the GST rollout has been “hassle-free” and “smooth”. Since the week has started and the “biggest tax reform” in the country has finally become applicable, we had tonnes of questions about it. That’s why we decided to call up the GST help desk.
We called the toll free helpline number –1800 1200 232– which was under the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), set up “to provide its services 24/7 to both ACES (Automation of Central Excise and Service Tax) and GST helpdesk requirements”. A voice told me that it would take about 12 minutes for somebody to get back to me about my queries.
After about 11 minutes, an attendant spoke to me only to tell me that he cannot answer specific GST-related queries. The attendant told me that this is the CBEC helpline and that I would have to call another number to get some answers.
I was asked to dial 0120 4888999.
I called the number and was directed to select a language option. On choosing English, an automated voice from the other end said – “Thank you for your patience, our next representative will be available with you shortly.”
It was after 9 minutes that somebody finally took the call. I asked him whether a WhatsApp forward that asks people to not pay utility bills through credit cards because they will have to pay the GST twice was true. I was told that this help desk can only answer GST registration-related questions.
What about other queries then? Like how the GST affects my eating out? Or that I can’t know for sure whether the tax rates are fixed or are susceptible to change? Or that I don’t know the difference between state GST and central GST?
On asking this, I was told that there isn’t any number available to answer these queries.
Like me, there will be several other people scrambling to find answers to their questions about the tax regime and hence I want to ask this – will there be a helpline specific to GST-related queries?
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman and Mohd Ibrahim
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)