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]

The goods shall be classified under the GST regime by HSN ( Harmonised System of Nomenclature) code. Taxpayers whose turnover is above ₹ 1.5 Crores but below ₹ 5 Crores shall use 2 digit code and the taxpayers whose turnover is ₹ 5 Crores and above shalll use 4 digit code. Taxpayers whose turnover is below ₹ 1.5 Crores are not required to mention HSN Code in their invoice. Services will be classified as per the Services Accounting Code (SAC)

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Goods and Service Tax (GST) is a destination based tax on consumption of goods and services. It is proposed to be levied at all stages right from manufacture up to final consumption with credit of taxes paid at previous stages available as setoff. In a nutshell, only value addition will be taxed and burden of tax is to be borne by the final consumer.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Alcohol for human consumption, Petroleum Products viz. petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel & Electricity,

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The CGST and SGST would be levied at rates to be jointly decided by the Centre and States. The rates would be notified on the recommendations of the GST Council.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Exports will be treated as zero rated supplies. No tax will be payable on exports of goods and services, however credit of input tax credit will be available and same will be available as refund to the exporters.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Any supplier who carries on any business at any place in India and whose aggregate turnover exceeds threshold limit as prescribed in a year is liable to get himself registered. However, certain categories of persons mentioned in Schedule III of MGL are liable to be registered irrespective of this threshold.

An agriculturist shall not be considered as a taxable person and shall not be liable to take registration

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Any person should take a registration, within thirty days from the date on which he becomes liable to registration, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

A person having multiple business verticals in a State may obtain a separate registration for each business vertical, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

A person, though not liable to be registered under Schedule III, may get himself registered voluntarily, and all provisions of this Act, as are applicable to a registered taxable person, shall apply to such person.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The proper officer can reject an application for registration after due verification. However it is also provided in sub-section 8 of Section 19, the propoer officer shall not reject the application for registration or the Unique Identity Number without giving a notice to shown cause and without giving the person a reasonable opportunities of being heard.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

CBEC, Chief said that every exemption distorts the structure and on that there is a complete agreement and consensus. The lesser the exemptions the better.

Having said that everybody is aware of the fact that there are several exemptions which have long gestation period which will continue to be there, so how do we address them? We could address them through multiple routes, we could address them by phasing them out over a period of time, we can address them by perhaps giving extra funds, those are decisions which the GST council will be taking and you will get to know soon.

Source : CNBC TV18

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Goods and Service Tax (GST) implementation in India would play a pivotal role in improving India's global competitiveness, say Arun Jaitley.

A report released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday showed that India's rankings had improved by 16 places to 39 this year among 138 countries from 55 last year.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved 'Project SAKSHAM', a New Indirect Tax Network (Systems Integration) of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

The total cost involved in ₹ 2256 Crore which will be incurred over a period of seven years. It will help in :

• implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST)
• extension of the Indian Customs Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) and
• other taxpayer friendly initiatives under Digital India and Ease of Doing Business of Central Board of Excise and Customs.

The implementation strategy for the project will be to ensure readiness of CBEC's IT systems by April, 1, 2017, when GST is to be introduced. The upgrade of the IT systems will be carried out while keeping the existing Taxpayer services running.

Source: GSTupdates.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

CBEC had released draft rules (along with formats) on various aspects such as Registration, Refunds, Returns, Payment of tax and Invoices for public comments likely to be finalised by Friday. The move came in which a clear intent of rolling out GST from April, 1, 2017

''We intend to have these rules approved by the GST Council in its meeting on September 30 so that business systems can be modified by all, '' Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia tweeted.

Source: GST updates.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

GST is going to change the way of doing business for taxpayers as well as tax officers. Information technology is going to govern things rather than these officers.

The taxpayers and the officer's interaction will all be through the Online GSTN Ecosystem now. However , that would not be the only way for interacting with the GST system.

GST ecosystem common platform will allow the taxpayer to have a choice of third-party applications, which will provide all use interfaces and convenience via desktops, mobiles, ipads, handhelds, etc. All such applications are expected to be developed by third-party service providers who have been given a generic name, GST Suvidha Provider, or GSP.

Source: GST updates.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The Government is working to implement GST by its set due date I.e. 01.04.2017

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

First meeting of GST Council was constructive said Shri Arun Jaitly ji

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Additionaldraft rule has been publishedhttp://www.cbec.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/gst/draft-rules-format

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

tax-vat-for-1-year-after-notification-of-gst-act/

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

FM: Government is working on a target date of 1st April, 2017 for the roll out of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) in the country.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that the Government is working on a target date of 1st April, 2017 for the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country. He said that till 16th September, 2017, that is one year after the provisions of the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016 being brought into force, the Constitution empowers the Central Government to levy excise duty on manufacturing; and service tax on the supply of services. The Finance Minister said that similarly the Constitution Amendment Act empowers the State Governments to levy sales tax or Value Added Tax (VAT) on the sale of goods till that time i.e. 16th September, 2016. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that so far the Government is following the road map for implementation of GST as per the schedule. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was making his Opening Remarks at the Fourth Meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Finance held here today. The subject of today’s Meeting was the Goods and Services Tax (GST)

The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further said that the First Meeting of the GST Council was held in a very cordial and constructive environment earlier this month and today, he will hold the Second Meeting of the GST Council. In the GST regime, the GST Council has been created under Article 279A of the Constitution. The GST Council is a joint forum of the Centre and the States. The Council will take decisions on important issues like tax rates, exemption list and threshold limits etc.

Thereafter, the Members of Consultative Committee who participated in today’s Meeting sought various clarifications with regard to GST Law and gave suggestions for its better implementation. Some of the major suggestions include need for absolute clarity and transparency with regard to where taxes will be collected, assessed and where the appeal will be filed in case of GST regime. The members said that it will be challenging task to tackle complex situation arising-out of implementation of GST law in a federal system. Some of the members suggested there is a need for launching a large scale Awareness Campaign especially for the small traders as most of them are still unaware about the complex procedures and processes under GST regime including for registration and filing of returns etc. Some of the members suggested that availability of IT network in all parts of the country, especially in small towns and rural areas, must be ensured as GST system will work only online. Some of the members appreciated the initiative of the Government in getting the GST law passed by both the Houses of Parliament as well as its commitment to implement it in a time bound manner. The members hoped that this law will bring relief to the common man by exempting certain essential items from GST and moderate rate of taxation on other items which in turn will bring down the prices of common man consumption items as well as cost of living at large.

Source : http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=151291

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.