New Delhi, Apr 27 (KNN) The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has asked all taxpayers to register with the GST Network by this month-end as only 34 per cent of the existing service tax assessees have so far migrated to the new payment portal.

There are a total of 80 lakh VAT, excise and service tax assessees.

In a letter to the officers, CBEC Chairman Vanaja N Sarna has said, “Coming to the status of migration, as on date 73 per cent of the existing Central Excise registrants and 34 per cent of the existing Service Tax registrants have migrated.”

"We are fast approaching the last date for completion of migration i.e. April 30, 2017. I urge all zonal Chief Commissioners to take necessary steps to assist all existing taxpayers in their migration to the new regime," Sarna said.

The zonal offices of the service tax department has started issuing advertisements in leading dailies, calling on the assessees to enrol and register with the GSTN immediately.

"Duty or tax credits under the existing laws cannot be carried forward in GST unless you enrol in the GST portal," the department said, adding that provisional ID and password will be available for assessees on the ACES porta