Setting up a centralized advance ruling authority—the sooner the better

In a bid to avoid disputes with the revenue department, the provision of advance rulings was introduced under the goods and services tax (GST) law. It should be noted that this mechanism existed in the previous tax regime as well. The objective of an advance ruling is to make a taxpayer aware of the treatment of a transaction in advance, so that there is full clarity at the outset itself. However,…