GST India: Here are a few basic facts and figures concerning GST – In the current system, we pay a number of indirect taxes, which are at times overlapping and double counting too, like, ‘Entertainment Tax’ for watching a movie, Value Added Tax (VAT) on purchasing goods & services, then Excise duties, Import Duties, Luxury Tax, Central Sales Tax, Service Tax etc. The basic idea behind GST is to make the indirect taxes simpler and uniform across the country, consolidate all State economies that amalgamating several Central and State taxes into a single tax would mitigate cascading or double taxation, facilitating a common national market..
Here are a few basic facts and figures concerning GST:
Bill: The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Second Amendment) Bill, 2014
Passed in LokSabha: 5th May 2015
Passed in RajyaSabha: 3rd August, 2016
What it is: “Goods and Services Tax” would be a comprehensive indirect tax on manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services throughout India, to replace taxes levied by the Central and State governments.
Conceptualized: By the Vajpayee government in 2000 by setting up the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers with the aim of facilitating a switch from the existing national-level central excise duty and state-level sales tax model to a value added tax (VAT) model.
First introduced: By Palaniappan Chidambaram, the then Union Finance Minister, on 28th February 2006, during the Central Budget of 2006-07, that GST would be introduced from April 1, 2010.
Top Gainers: Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), auto, cement, electrical, retail, Multiplexes and logistics. So the items like Two-wheelers and SUVs, Car batteries, Paint, Cement, Movie tickets (entertainment tax), Electronics like fans, lighting, water heaters, air coolers, etc. are going to be cheper. Auto sector is clearly the top beneficiary of the GST bill.
Getting Dearer: Due to the raise of the service tax from 14.5% to more or less than 18%, the items like Cigarette, Commercial vehicles such as trucks, Mobile phone calls, Textile, Branded jewellery etc. are going to be costlier.
GST at Global: France was the first country to introduce this system in 1954. Nearly 140 countries are following this tax system.
GST would be the next biggest tax reforms in India. But India being a federal structure, a lot of implementation will depend on the cooperation from the State governments. There are a lot of operational challenges. So, how best this idea is going to be implemented; only time will tell.
GST Final Analysis
GST very tricky I feel. The reality will be realized only after it coming into play. Data s loaded with Statistics and Mathematics may not tally when put into practice as has been seen in many a case
Not competent to go into the intricacies but common sense tells me it is good if implemented honestly in letter and spirit without dilution. With strictly no exceptions and states compensated liberally without political bias can turn this into a one tax wonder. Time the best teacher and hopefully we may be able to enjoy the benefits.
Implementation of new laws and rules varies in different countries. We stand a tough one with anything new be it good or bad because of our political and cultural diversity
The target date for introduction of GST is 1st July 2017 Introduction of this transformational tax reform is expected to broaden the tax base, increase tax compliance and reduce economic distortions caused by inter-State variations in taxes. GST will boost economic activity and will benefit everyone. It will streamline the tax administration, avoid harassment of the business and result in higher revenue collection for the Centre and States. Compliance costs for the industry will go down. Last but not the least, it will create more jobs. In sum, it would be a win-win situation for everyone i.e. taxpayers, governments, consumers, etc.
Decks were cleared for rollout of the landmark Goods and Services Tax from July 1 as Parliament passed the supporting GST laws. Finance Minister ArunJaitley assured that the real estate sector will also form part of its framework within one year. Four supporting pieces of GST legislation – Central GST, Integrated GST, State GST and Compensation laws – were returned to the LokSabha after they were cleared by the Upper House without any amendments.The LokSabha had passed the bills on March 29, 2017. “In 2006, we embarked upon the idea, which ran into hurdles. We learned from the experience and today, it is the collective property of the country,” Arun Jaitley said (The Economic Times 30th March 2017). The next step will be the states and Union Territories passing the state and UT GST laws through their assemblies and the Center furnishing fitment of rates for goods and services. Replying to the debate on the GST, Jaitley said the fitment procedure will be complete by May or early June. Goods will then either retain their present rate of taxation or be put into the nearest tax bracket of the GST rates.
All the existing taxpayers registered under VAT, Service Tax, and Excise are required to furnish the details at GST Common portal for the purpose of migrating themselves into GST regime. To begin with, the taxpayers registered under the State Vat Department needs to provide their details and period for furnishing these details are specified for every state. Once the taxpayers provide their details there will be no need for them to register again with the State or Center once the GST Act is implemented. Enrollment process for other existing taxpayers not registered with VAT will be started at a later date.
As the GST Migration process has peaked up in various states, the first step is to enroll within the structure on a specified date assigned to each and every state. The business units must enroll themselves within the time period in order to get listed in the GST framework. The IT platform created by the Goods and Service Tax Network will be securing all the details filled up and will create unique IDs in the name of every dealer enrolled. This will help the tax department to figure out every business unit and can create a different login mark along with calculations of annual tax return accumulated on the particular business unit. The government announced specified dates for each state to enroll all its designated dealers within it and wanted them to furnish the details within a required specific time period. The dealers will be getting provisional IDs after the enrollment and by the help of which one can login into the GST portal.
The enrollment dates are specified by the government for each state separately and the administration demands every state must enroll themselves within the given specified time. The enrollment process was started from 8 November 2016 and end date as per the schedule is fixed 31 March 2017. States commencing for the enrollment process were Sikkim Puducherry on 8 November 2016 while the last state to enroll was Delhi which was enrolled from 16 December 2016.
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