Goods and GST Bill passed, Goods and Services Tax - GST

[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.

Posts / Replies

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Valuation rules set guidelines as to what will be the value on which GST is required to be paid on goods and services.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

“It has been observed in the past that calculation of tax on a transaction becomes very difficult when a pure agent is involved. It should be noted that previously there was no mention made of taxation on such transactions and why it has been reintroduced is a mystery to us because it makes things more complex, especially for service providers,” M.S. Mani, senior director at Deloitte Haskins Sells LLP said.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Existing tax payers are required to migrate to Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. This GST enrolment activation drive kicked off in November for VAT registrants and in January for Service Tax and Excise registrants. Deadline to migrate is set at 30th April 2017.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

In terms of most number of tax payers who have migrated to GST, the state that tops the list is – Karnataka with 92.83% conversion. 2nd in list is Maharashtra with 88.01% followed by Gujarat 87.44%.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Taxpayers who are registered under Service Tax Act but not registered under State VAT stand at 30.1% and Taxpayers who are registered under Central Excise Act but not registered under State VAT at a very low 13.15%

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

With goods and services tax (GST) now close to reality and the government aiming for rollout by July 1, Former Finance minister, P Chidambaram thinks October 1 would be the best time to rollout GST.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Former Finance minister, P Chidambaram says people need more time to adjust to change in the tax regime. ?It's undesirable to set such a tight roll-out target for GST,? adding that it is also impractical.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The Good and Services Tax (GST) Bills are far from perfect and are not ready for implementation yet, according to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Any rush to roll out GST by July 1 could prove harmful, he cautioned while batting for an October implementation of the new tax regime.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Chidambaram said the Bills still have some ?imperfections?, including the multiplicity of rates, compliance provisions and a lack of clarity on compoundable offence.

"I think people should be given enough time to adjust. The second aspect is that the GSTN has to be proved in a trial. The Finance Minister spoke of 30 billion invoices a day. If that number if right, it is a humongous number. Is the GSTN capable of processing all that without glitches? I think the GSTN should be allowed to run it on a trial basis for a month or two before you actually launch GST," he told The Financial Express.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Chidambaram also raised questions over the 14 percent revenue figure for states that the government has assured. If this 14 percent has to be achieved, many goods could fall under the higher rate of 28 percent.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The GST Bill have an anti-profiteering provision which ensures reduction of tax incidence is passed on to the customers. ?There is no definition of anti-profiteering, they are going to set up an authority, that authority will devise its own procedure. It?s clearly open to abuse,? Chidambaram told the paper.

Also, there are separate bodies that deal with cases of profiteering already. In this case, why should an income tax official be given the right to take decision, which ideally should have be in hands, he asked.

[KASTURI SETHI]

There is every possibility that GST will be implemented from 1.9.2017 or 1.10.17.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

As India Inc. awaits implementation of long awaited revamped indirect tax regime i.e Goods and Services Tax (GST), it fears that 3 months is too short a time to prepare for it.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Industry experts opine that 3 months is less time to get ready for GST. Post GST Council’s meeting on 31st March – GST Bills and Rules were released which had some key changes from the draft earlier released by government.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

“The rates are now the big remaining issue,” said Sudhir Kapadia, national tax leader at EY in India. “If they get decided too late, then in all fairness the government should consider an extension of time.”

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

GST is not just change in tax rate or type of tax. It entails huge change in pricing, valuation, processes – procurement and supply including supply chain. It also impacts the IT system of a company, from invoicing formats to generating input and output reports.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Under Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, every taxpayer would be assigned a compliance rating based on the compliance record of the assessee. As per Section 149 of the CGST Bill passed by Parliament, “Every registered person may be assigned a goods and services tax compliance rating score by the Government based on his record of compliance with the provisions of this Act.”

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

While, the GST law does not prescribe the parameters for compliance rating as yet, Prakash Kumar, chief executive of GSTN throws some light on it. He said “Regularity in uploading the invoices, filing of returns and taxes will be the main criterion for rating the taxpayers. The ratings will be updated at periodic intervals and also will be put up in the public domain,”.

The rating would be made publicly available on the GST Network (GSTN) website as tax authorities intend to build peer pressure among companies to ensure compliance. This rating score will be updated at periodic intervals.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

GSTN is getting ready to take load of more than 3 billion invoices a month from an estimated 8 million taxpayers.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

While, the GST law does not prescribe the parameters as yet, Prakash Kumar, chief executive of GSTN throws some light on it. He said “Regularity in uploading the invoices, filing of returns and taxes will be the main criterion for rating the taxpayers. The ratings will be updated at periodic intervals and also will be put up in the public domain,”.

The rating would be made publicly available on the GST Network (GSTN) website as tax authorities intend to build peer pressure among companies to ensure compliance. This rating score will be updated at periodic intervals.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

With the assent of Hon'ble President of India, to four supporting legislations of on GST i.e. CGST, IGST, UTGST and Compensation Cess after getting it passed from by both the houses of parliament the way of rollout of GST from 1st July, 2017 seems possible.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Yes, Sir. It seems possible. Still we are to use the terms of "possible".

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value exceeding Rs. 50000.00 - (i) in relation to a supply; or (ii) for reasons other than supply; or (iii) due to inward supply from an unregistered person, shall, before commencement of movement, furnish information relating to the said goods in Part A of FORM GST INS-01, electronically, on the common portal and (a) where the goods are transported by the registered person as a consignor or the recipient of supply as the consignee, whether in his own conveyance or a hired one, the said person or the recipient may generate the e-way bill in FORM GST INS-1 electronically on the common portal after furnishing information in Part B of FORM GST INS-01; or (b) where the e-way bill is not generated under clause (a) and the goods are handed over to a transporter, the registered person shall furnish the information relating to the transporter in Part B of FORM GST INS-01 on the common portal and the e-way bill shall be generated by the transporter on the said portal on the basis of the information furnished by the registered person in Part A of FORM GST INS-01: Provided that the registered person or, as the case may be, the transporter may, at his option, generate and carry the e-way bill even if the value of the consignment is less than fifty thousand rupees. Provided further that where the movement is caused by an unregistered person either in his own conveyance or a hired one or through a transporter, he or the transporter may, at their option, generate the e-way bill in FORM GST INS-01 on the common portal in the manner prescribed in this rule.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The Commissioner or an officer empowered by him in this behalf may authorise the proper officer to intercept any conveyance to verify the e-way bill or the e-way bill number in physical form for all inter-State and intra-State movement of goods.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Where a vehicle has been intercepted and detained for a period exceeding thirty minutes, the transporter may upload the said information in FORM GST INS- 04 on the common portal.