Goods and GST Bill passed

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Dear All,

GST Bill is passed in Rajya Sabha on 03. 08.2016.

A panel under chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian has recommended a revenue-neutral rate of 15-15.5%, with a standard rate of 17-18% be levied on most goods and all services.

But, there has been no agreement yet on rates of various goods and services, which remains a tricky issue. According to the Bill, passed in the Lok Sabha in May 2015, the rates were to be decided by a GST council headed by the central finance minister with state finance ministers as members.

Let us wait.

Thanks.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Experts says that rate of 26% is a concern. It may happen that most of the goods be categorised to tax at that rate.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Consensus on GST rate could not be achieved in the GST Council meeting concluded on 19.10.2016.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Consensus achieved on compensation formula in the GST Council meeting.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Compensation formula proposed by GST Council wherein 14% tax revenue growth is estimated for states for a period of first five years, the period for which the states will be compensated for five years from the base year 2015-2016. States that earn tax revenue less the assumed tax amount will be compensated.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The proposed 4-tier GST structure may hit the common man as it is likely to result in higher taxes on various items including kitchen staples such as edible oils, spices and chicken.

The prices of certain consumer durables like televisions, air conditioners, fridges and washing machines may however become cheaper with decrease in taxes.

The government plans to roll out the new indirect tax regime, Goods and Services Tax (GST), from April 1, 2017. In its meeting with states this week, the Centre has proposed a four slab GST rate structure.

The lowest rate proposed is 6 per cent, with two standard rates of 12 and 18 per cent. The peak rate, which will mostly apply to FMCG and consumer durables, will be 26 per cent.

Besides, a cess is also likely to be levied on demerit or sin goods and polluting items.

According to the Centre’s estimates on impact of the 4-slab rate structure on CPI inflation, items like chicken and coconut oil which currently suffer a tax incidence of 4 per cent will be taxed at 6 per cent under the GST regime.

Similarly, the tax burden on refined oil, mustard oil and groundnut oil will go up from 5 per cent to 6 per cent.

Other kitchen staples too will be taxed at 6 per cent as against 3 per cent in case of turmeric and jeera, 5 per cent in case of dhania, black pepper and oil seeds.

TVs, air conditioners, washing machines, inverters, refrigerators, electric fans and cooking appliances may become cheaper with the incidence of taxes on them declining from 29 per cent to 26 per cent post implementation of the GST.

Perfumes, shaving cream, powder, hair oil, shampoo, soap, and other toiletry items will become cheaper as they too presently are taxed at 29 per cent.

Gas stove, gas burner, mosquito repellent and insecticide may, however, become expensive as they are currently taxed at 25 per cent, lower than the proposed peak rate of 26 per cent under GST.

Under the proposed 4-slab structure, the items which are currently taxed between 3-9 per cent will fall in the 6 per cent bracket; those in 9-15 per cent range will come under 12 per cent rate.

Those products which are currently taxed between 15-21 per cent would attract 18 per cent levy, while those above 21 per cent would be taxed at the peak rate of 26 per cent.

The GST Council, which has Union Finance Minister and his state counterparts, will decide on tax rates next month.

Saying that the four tier rate structure was designed in a way that neither the exchequer lose revenue nor does the common man’s tax liability increase significantly, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said: “the effort will be to fit the goods in the closest tax bracket under GST”.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The government is making all effort to implement GST by 01.04.2017

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

All issues of GST will be discussed in the next GST meeting.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Much awaited GST is going to a realty .

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Simplified tax mechanism is expected with easy compliance and transparency. Guidance and support to discharge correct tax compliance is expected in new tax regime.

Dear All,GST Council met at NewDelhi for 3 days under the chairmanship of Hon.Finance Minister and discussed mainly the rates of GST and compensation to State on the possible GST loss (1)All the states unanimously accepted the formula for the compensation to states.(2) GST COUNCIL suggested 4 rates as below1.6% for essential items2.12% for standard items3.18% for standard items4.26% for luxury itemsHowever the council did'nt reached an agreement for the finalisation of rates.The council will meet again .

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Gst liability can be paid by debit card, credit card, Neft, rtgs etc. No need to open an account

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

“Introduction of GST (Goods and Services Tax), which is round the corner is one of the pioneering and game changing transformative initiatives taking shape in our country. GST introduction is a huge challenge and opportunity for the Chartered Accountants and you need to get ready for enabling this change in a smooth and seamless manner,” Venkaiah added.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Software major Infosys had bagged the five-year contract to be the Managed Service Provider (MSP) for GSTN.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

GSTN, a not-for-profit entity incorporated in March 2013, has been set up primarily to provide IT infrastructure and services to the Central and State governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders for implementation of GST.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Amalgamation of the Railways and General budgets has brought the 92-year-old practice to an end. The government proposes to advance the budget presentation date from the last week of February.

Source : gsttaxation.com

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Corporates need to gear up to upcoming GST.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

In the wake of apprehensions that the GST regime may raise inflation and affect the common man, the government may create a separate surveillance agency that will oversee pricing mechanism as goods travel from the manufacturer to consumer.

Officials at various forums have been trying to convince people that the GST regime will bring down prices of most of the commodities. But it has been noticed in many countries that traders and firms have raised prices in the garb of GST.

“There could be a separate price surveillance authority subsequently. We are looking into it,” an official said.

Services is one area which could be costlier if the standard GST rates are jacked up more than 22%, analysts believe. At present, the services tax rate is close to 15%. In case the standard GST rate is set at 22% or above, services tax rate will also move up subsequently. But in manufactured consumer goods, in the current tax regime, a consumer pays approximately 25-26% more than the cost of production due to excise duty and value added tax. If the GST rate is anywhere between 18% and 22%, basic goods will become marginally cheaper.

According to Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian’s panel report , “An RNR of anything beyond 15-15.5% will likely result in a standard rate of about 19-21%, which would make India an outlier amongst comparable emerging economies… Our recommendations would still place India at the upper end of the standard rates found across comparable countries. It is worth emphasising that the GST is intrinsically a regressive tax and the higher the rate, the greater will be the regressivity.”

The government is planning to rollout the single most powerful tax reform since independence from April 1, 2017. For that, it will need to pass two GST legislations - CGST and IGST - in the Winter session of Parliament. The GST Council will need to arrive at a consensual standard GST rate.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Proposed cess is a concern raised by the association. all indirect tax and cess is going to subsume in to GST then why should there be a cess again.

With the GST rates under discussion and the expected increase of dealers getting registered under GST is high due to lower threshold limits proposed. then why a cess.

The revenue under current regime is not distributed in the manner proposed in GST , so there was strong logic of imposing cess for funding specific purpose task. but now the revenue is proposed to be distributed among states and centre, so why this cess again.

The taxes are ultimately going to be collected from the customer , who, in my view are unaware about the discussions and development of GST in actual sense. hence it is the job of trade association, in my view, to represent the authority , requesting the authority to draft tax law keeping all concerns of the customers on table.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The invoice matching system is seen as good idea by the country across India. this is really a good idea in the interest of revenue.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Few months away from GST. need all dealers to learn and understand GST mechanism for smooth implementation .

AI Summary

Goods and Services Tax consolidation creates a dual GST framework with GST Council oversight and a shared IT platform for compliance.
Goods and Services Tax establishes a destination based, dual tax framework subsuming central and state indirect levies, administered through a GST Council and implemented via a shared IT platform (GSTN). The model law sets out registration and return regimes, HSN/SAC classification by turnover bands, input tax credit carry forward, composition and reverse charge rules, refund and valuation procedures, compensation to states during transition, and institutional arrangements for cross empowerment, adjudication and dispute resolution.