The Commercial Taxes Department will introduce virtual personal hearings for taxpayers at its 15 appellate offices from July 9 and has also introduced a computer-based random allocation system for GST refund applications to improve transparency and speed up refund processing.
Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration D. Logesh Tamilselvan on Wednesday chaired a review meeting with officials of the Commercial Taxes Department on Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection, non-GST tax collections, and the functioning of the intelligence, audit and legal wings.
There are 338 assessment circles in the Commercial Taxes Department across the State, with 12.4 lakh registered traders under the GST Act. If any discrepancies are found in the GST returns filed by taxpayers, notices are issued to them after detailed scrutiny. This is followed by a personal hearing notice.
Under the present system, taxpayers are required to appear in person before the jurisdictional assessing officer to provide their explanation. So far, notices and personal hearings have been issued in 58,000 cases. To simplify the process and safeguard the interests of traders, guidelines have been issued for conducting personal hearings through virtual mode to ensure transparency and fairness, an official release said.
The virtual hearing facility will particularly benefit traders who are unable to appear in person due to various reasons, including those located in remote areas, by enabling them to participate in proceedings within the stipulated time. The virtual hearing system will be implemented in 15 appellate offices from July 9, the release said.
Further, to ensure transparency and eliminate bottlenecks, guidelines have been issued to disburse GST refunds promptly. During the previous financial year, the department disbursed around ₹5,000 crore as refunds, the majority of which related to unutilised Input Tax Credit (ITC) on exports. Such refund applications will now be allocated through a computer-based random system to any assessing officer within the concerned division to streamline the refund process and avoid delays, the release added.
Published - July 08, 2026 05:49 pm IST