Goods and Services Tax reform: implementation gaps undermine uniformity and demand digital, adjudicatory, and compliance reforms
The Article evaluates GST as a consumption-based tax founded on Supply and Place of Supply, with a seamless Input Tax Credit, digital administration, and invoice-matching intended to create one national market. It identifies implementation failures-divergent Advance Rulings, lack of an appellate tribunal, GSTN technical glitches, delayed refunds, invoice fraud and evasion, and questionable anti-profiteering procedures-and recommends audits, e-invoicing, remedies for inverted duty structures, faster refunds, a compliance-rating mechanism, and strengthened anti-evasion and adjudicatory institutions to secure GST's objectives. (AI Summary)