CASE STUDIES ON SOFT SKILLS IN AUDIT 42
The phrase ‘soft skills’ incorporates a wide variety of personality traits, communication and people skills, social attitudes and emotional intelligence. These qualities are increasingly important for success in the workplace – and not just for those in leadership positions. This Commissionerate pays much emphasis on communication skills, team work, problem-solving skills, leadership skills and an excellent work ethic, all of which plays a vital role in augmenting revenue and respect for the department. This office had made use of material provided by NACIN in respect of training on Soft Skills. The emphasis on soft skills has led to greater amount of Audits done without compromising with the quality of Audit. Due to soft skills only, this Office has adapted well to new technology driven tools and frequent changes in law. The conduct of the officers with the assessee is also worth mentioning. Below are some case studies which depict the use of soft skills by this office: A. Calling for the Documents: a) In the GST regime, M/s Siemens India Pvt. Ltd. is registered at their HO at Khargar. They have branch offices at Kalwa, Nashik&Bhiwandi. Therefore, they need to co-ordinate, collect and collate the documents and data from their branches and warehouse. Further, they had compliance date line of 18/19/20 of every month for GSTR 3 B returns as well as 30 September 19 for Annual returns 9 & 9C. They were seeking postponement of the audit by 3 months, Understanding their difficulty, the assessee were requested to share the documents gradually in staggered time frame. Initially thye Balance sheets, PnL then Trial Balance & ledgers and finally the ITC credit ledgers. All the documents were received in soft form, same 43
were scrutinized, and the queries were shared through mail keeping in mind the timeline of compliance for GST, Income Tax etc. b) The director of M/s. High Parra Constructions Private Limited had filed multiple grievances with the Finance Minister questioning the reasons for selection of their unit for EA-2000 Audit and stating duplication of detailed scrutiny and Audit for the same period. The Audit of the said assessee was taken up on time-bound manner with due precautions considering the sensitivity of the issue. Due to the non-cooperating behavior of the assessee, basic required documents were retrieved from the GST portal and MCA website. The assessee was also granted Personal hearing by the Additional Commissioner, which was attended by the assessee along with their Consultant. They were politely requested to submit the necessary documents required for conducting EA-2000 Audit. Being conversant with Service Tax Act/Rules, the assessee agreed upon the facts narrated by the audit team. During their next visit, they had brought all the necessary documents for audit verification, as requested by the Audit team. During the conversation, the audit team told him that by extending his co-operation, he is helping the Government of India in liquidating the audit pendency and the Government respects their honest taxpayers. The audit team gained his confidence by conveying various laws and procedures and appreciated his contribution towards economy of the nation. The assessee was highly impressed by the courteous and polite behavior of the audit officers of audit team. During the course of audit, total detection of short payment / non- payment of service tax was made to the tune of Rs.13,61,844/- which was willingly paid by the assessee. Lessons Learnt: To understand the genuine difficulty of the trade and provide viable solution. 44
B. Detection a) The Tax Executive, Manager and the Consultant are direct stakeholders in the compliance; any detection of non compliance by the Audit team adversely affects and seriously jeopardizes their respective future in the entity. M/s Jacob Engineering, a USA, MNC in the field of Petroleum Refinery consultancy was being audited. Improper credits of about Rs 22 lakh were detected; it was going to adversely affect both the tax executive and manger. However, without any show of triumph or euphoria, the CFO was briefed with proper perspective, praising the efforts of the Tax team for their diligent compliance and truthful documentation. As a tribute to their hard work and honesty, the non compliance was projected to be a minor aberration. The CFO immediately ensured the discharge of all the Service tax liability without any adverse action on the Tax team. Lessons Learnt: Do have empathy for the Tax team. Appreciate them for their diligent compliance. C. Recovery: A substantial non compliance was noticed at Air Mauritius with Service tax liability of about Rs. 55 crore. The Tax Management and their Consultant were disputing the liability. Systematically, all the relevant data were collected &analysed andthen presented to the assessee clearly bringing out their non-compliance. The details of the practice followed by other entities in the same field of operation were also collected and presented to the assessee. They were also informed about the reduction of penalty to 15% in case of immediate payments. The assessee got convinced and discharged the liability of Rs. 55 crore. Lessons Learnt: Diligent and systematic hard work brings forth the actionable data. 45
IMPLEMENTATION OF E-OFFICE IN MUMBAI AUDIT-II COMMISSIONERATE As per the directions of the CBIC, e-office, an electronic application developed by the National Informatics Centre under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY/ DEITY), Govt. of India, which helps to carry out office work electronically, has been successfully launched in GST Audit-II, Mumbai on 20th July, 2020. The application is designed with an objective to establish a paperless environment in Government offices aimed to increase efficiency, transparency, effectiveness, convenience and accountability which is alsoin sync with environmental concern and the consequent digitization would save mother Earth by reducing carbon footprint and contribute to Swachata as no more old physical files would occupy premium office space. It is expected that adoption of e-office to carry out office work will bring in an attitudinal shift, awareness and usher in real time & responsive communication system for Inter and intra government transactions. The process would also benefit the Departmental officers and the public in terms of ease of use, increased utility, preservation of records, flexibility, assured data security and integrity. E-office is expected to be a huge transformation in work culture and ethics within the department & is futuristic step to achieve e-governance objectives. As part of implementation program, a team under the guidance of Additional Commissioner was formed and they have coordinated with NIC, DGPM & NACIN for all the required trainings & setup to successfully launch e-office application before the prescribed due date. The on-boarding of 46
rganization onto e-Office necessitates that every officer who works in e-office environment is provided with a VPN account from NIC which was provided by DGPM. The infrastructure needed for supporting e-office was also installed like scanners, digital signatures, laptops & hands-on training to all the staff. All the officers of GST Audit-II, Mumbai are directed to move to e-office application at the earliest and have been insisted that all new files shall be opened electronically only & physical files should be used at the bare minimum where ever necessary. Legacy files shall be migrated simultaneously to the application on priority so that they can be used to carry out office work on the application. Thus a new era begins which will be environment friendly, transparent and bring efficiency, effectiveness and faster disposal. 47
A PICTURE IS WORTH THOUSAND WORDS OTHER SUCCESS STORIES PERFORMANCE AS SEEN IN “PICTURES” 48
Republic Day Celebration- 2021 at GST Bhawan, Churchgate, Mumnbai. Flag hosting on Republic Day by Shri Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Pr. Chief Commissioner 49
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Pr. Chief Commissioner, Shri Rakesh Kumar Sharma administering the oath of Preamble of Indian Constitution on Constitution Day. 51
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Shri Vivek Johri, PCC, Mumbai Customs Zone-I, Shri Rakesh Kumar Sharma, PCC, CGST, Mumbai Zone and Mrs. Rama Mathew, CC, Mumbai Zone-III on GST Day Celebration on 01st July, 2020. 53
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Independence Day Celebration- 2020 at GST Bhawan, Churchgate, Mumnbai. Flag hosting on Independence Day by Shri Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Pr. Chief Commissioner 55
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“Every Blood Donor is a Life Saver” 1. BLOOD DONATION CAMP AT WORLD TRADE CENTRE ON 30/01/2020: Blood Donation Camp in presence of Hon’ble Pr. Chief Commissioner Smt. Sungita Sharma, Commissioner Shri Ramesh Chander and other officers of this Zone. Leading by example: Blood donation by Hon’ble Pr. Chief Commissioner, CGST & C.Ex, Mumbai Zone. 57
Commissioner Shri Ramesh Chander and Additional Commissioner Smt. Pritee Chaudhary with blood doners of this Commissionerate. Hon’ble Pr. Chief Commissioner Smt. Sungita Sharma addressing the media in the Camp. 58
“Everyone must be his own scavenger” 2. SWACHH BHARAT MISSIONAT COLABA WOODS GARDEN, MUMBAI: Additional Commissioner Smt. Pritee Chaudhary with other officers during Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. 59
“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope” 3. PLANTATION DRIVE AT WORLD TRADE CENTRE: Shri Ramesh Chander, Smt. Pritee Chaudhary, Commissioner Additional Commissioner Shri Satish Shitole, DC; Shri C. S. Pavan, DC; Shri Rajendra Chauhan, AC & Shri J. Mohapatra, AC. 60
“The worst disease in the world today is corruption. And there is a cure: Transparency” 4. OBSERVING VIGILANCE AWARENESS: Observing Vigilance Awareness week by the officers of GST Audit-II in presence of Hon’ble Commissioner Shri Ramesh Chander, Additional Commissioner Smt. Pritee Chaudhary. 61
“Nothing gets transformed in your life until your mind is transformed.” 5. TRAINING ON SOFT SKILLS GIVEN BY HON’BLE COMMISSIONER SHRI RAMESH CHANDER AT GST AUDIT RAIGAD: 62
\"Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self\" 6. YOGA DAY AT WORLD TRADE CENTRE, MUMBAI: 63
“Service to Man is Service to God” 7. PANDEMIC - MANAGEMENT EFFORTS: 64
“Culture resides in the heart and soul of its people” 8. SANSKRITI: E-MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BY GST (AUDIT-II), MUMBAI COMMISSIONERATE. 65
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