The government has a set up an anti-profiteering body empowered to penalise businesses that do not pass on GST benefits to consumers, but its complex procedures could frustrate the common man, experts say.

Experts feel that the application form seeking action against suspected traders requires way too much information for a common man to provide.

For instance, it may not be possible for consumers to provide the exact pre-GST price or details of the input tax credit benefits, if he feels that a restaurant has jacked up food prices in the menu despite GST tax rate cut to 5 percent from 18 percent.

Abhishek Jain, Partner, EY India said that the anti-profiteering application form requires detailed information such as sale price (pre-GST and post GST), taxes (pre-GST and post-GST), benefits of input credits, etc.

"It also appears that a separate application may need to be filed for each good and / or services in reference to which anti-profiteering is alleged," Jain said.

The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA), set up last month, has sent out a strong message that the government will not hesitate to crack the whip if businesses were found not passing on the benefits of rate cuts or tax credit to the final consumer.

Under the Goods and Service Tax (GST)-related laws, the government had introduced an anti-profiteering clause to ensure businesses transfer the benefit of tax credit to consumer by making products cheaper.

On Wednesday, the government released the official form for anti-profiteering under GST that can be used by a consumer to register a complaint. A rigorous three-level evaluation and scrutiny by tax officials would enable the consumer to get back the amount or benefit that was not passed on, if the business is found guilty.

The entity accused of profiteering may also have to shell out an 18 percent interest from the date of collection of higher amount till the date of return of such amount.

Tax officials that Moneycontrol spoke to said that the government is yet to provide specific guidelines for such investigations.

"There is no clear rule/strategy for investigation in place to deal with anti-profiteering complaints. The final investigation will be done by DG Safeguards and things will be looked on a case-to-case basis," a government official said on the condition of anonymity.

"In fact, it is not even clear what kind of cases can be considered profiteering and what should be avoided," the official said.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has, time and again, said that the NAA will evaluate will not look at small cases, but look at only those cases that have mass impact.

Currently, however, there is no specific guideline or threshold that would determine how big or small a case is, the official cited above said.

Another tax expert said that the anti-profiteering body, which will be wound up two years after its rollout, should have been set up till now as it has already been five months since GST’s rollout.

It was only in November that Cabinet approved setting up of National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA). Last week, the government appointed the Chairman and the four technical members of NAA.

The framework of the body comprises a standing committee, screening committees in every state as well as the Directorate General of Safeguards.

If consumers feel that the benefit of a rate cut is not being passed on to them, they can approach the state’s screening committee for relief.

However, in case the incident of profiteering relates to an item of mass impact with ’All India’ ramification, the application has to be directly sent to the standing committee. If the committee is able to conclude that there is an element of profiteering, then the matter will be referred for detailed investigation to DG Safeguards, which shall report its findings to the NAA.

Further, if NAA confirms there is a necessity to apply anti-profiteering measures, it has the authority to order the accused business to reduce its prices or return the undue benefit availed by it along with interest to the recipient of the goods and services.