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]

FM impressed upon the gathering the importance of coordination between the Central and the State administration in smooth transition from the old to new Indirect tax regime so that the taxpayer of the country does not suffer.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

FM Arun Jaitley after inaugurating Professional Training Course of 68th Batch of IRS (C&CE) Officers spoke on change in mindset of tax payers. He also expressed faith in the probationers to be able to carry out the onerous task of smooth rolling out and administering the new indirect tax administration system i.e. Goods and Services Tax (GST).

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

While the entire enrolment process is online driven, users are facing various challenges in conversion. Sales tax bar association (Delhi) has written to Delhi VAT Commissioner highlighting problems faced by dealers.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs H N Ananth Kumar today expressed hope about the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime from coming April, saying the government is pushing ahead with the agenda.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The next GST Council meeting is scheduled for January 3 and 4 to decide on the contentious issue of dual control over assesses and the legislation on IGST.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Stating that Tally has constantly been making efforts to equip small businesses and traders with the right information to train and prepare themselves for the tax reform, the company said it recently qualified as a GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) by the GSTN Network.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

In GST Council meeting beginning today – GST Council is expected to form consensus on Dual Control administration and discuss IGST Law. Thereafter, present the laws before parliament in budget session.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Not even a single assessee registered in J&K has converted to GST. The reason being state government has not participated in this grand transition to GST plan.

Currently, J&K is outside the purview of Service Tax. J&K is the only state in the country with powers to tax services and it want to be part of GST without compromising its constitutional position on taxing services.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Commerce and Industry Ministry today pressed the GST Council to keep exports out of the GST framework and levy lower taxes on labour-intensive sectors like leather, cement and plantation.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said refund of taxes takes about six to eight months and hence it is necessary to "give an ab-intio exemption".

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Concept of centralised registration did not find space under the Model GST Law. This meant that every service provider who has single/ centralised registration will have to de-centralise and register in multiple states. Implying, multi fold increase in compliance. Mutiple assessments, audits, litigation etc.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Most of the service providers have centralised registration. They may be providing services from multiple state in India but have taken single registration. This make life much easier as far as compliance, tax payments, credit management, audits, litigation is concerned. But under GST concept of single/ centralised registration was taken off as things are placed state specific. This has caused nightmare for certain industries which are spread across India by virtue of their business e.g. Telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone and Banks like ICICI, HDFC.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The gst enrolment process kicked off on 8th November 2016. As per the figures released in GSTN in only 7 states/UT more than 50% assessees have enroled under GST.

Following States are ahead in GST enrolment with maximum number assesses. These are:

1. Gujarat – 78.52%
2. Madhya Pradesh – 77.68%
3. Chhattisgarh – 74.66%
4. Rajasthan – 67.7%
5. West Bengal – 56.94%
6. Jharkhand – 56.47%
7. Chandigarh – 53.93%
8. Bihar – 48.8%
9. Goa – 46.69%
10. Delhi – 45.78%

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The government will present the Union Budget 2017-18 on February 1 for the financial year starting on April 1, a senior government official said.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The Budget 2017-18 would be presented on February 1. The Part B of the Budget speech, which contains tax proposal, could carry half-yearly estimates of service, central excise duty and collections from other indirect taxes (excluding customs) that the Centre expects to earn between April to September, instead of full-year projections.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar highlighted the issue of de-centralized registration under GST. He said that under IT sector contracts are central but services are provided from multiple locations and are delivered within and outside India. This raises serious challenges with invoicing and input tax credit.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar says that Complex place of supply, input credit and valuation requirements, in addition to multiple registration, is leading to an unviable situation, “Our request is to allow for an option of single registration for the IT sector, without prejudice to the principles of dual control or apportionment of revenues between Centre and states.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

National Academy of Customs Excise & Narcotics (NACEN) has released video tutorials to explain registration and refunds under GST in very simple way. You can watch the video from below links:

1. Refunds under GST

2. Registration under GST

The videos explain how refunds and registration process would work under GST. Hope you find them useful!

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

"There is some thinking of an increase in the service tax rate in case the GST is not implemented from April. A higher rate will help improve revenue and also bring it closer to the proposed standard rate under GST,” said a close source.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

It is expected that Arun Jaitely would reveal revised GST rollout date during Budget.

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.