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]

V Manickam, Secretary General, Life Insurance Council, the umbrella body for all life insurers, said that the industry had sought a zero rate for insurance, which the government rejected.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Roopam Asthana, CEO, Liberty Videocon General Insurance said that the 10 percent discount that is being offered for digital premium payments for PSU general insurers should also be extended to other insurers. Source : money control

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

MS Mani, Indirect tax expert at Deloitte said that clearing CGST is a positive step in the GST process. Demonetisation and GST both are directed towards pushing unorganized sectors into organised, Mani added.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

"We have cleared the Model GST Law, and all the procedural parts…it was discussed line by line…some contentious issues were kept on the side, primarily the issue of cross empowerment, and some issues of IGST,” Jammu and Kashmir Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu said.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The collections from the proposed cess on luxury or demerit supplies over and above the higher tax slab are estimated to be around ₹ 50,000 crore, out of which around ₹ 26,000 crore will be collected through clean environment cess, Adhia said, adding that the cess collections will be exclusively used by the Centre to compensate states.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

The centre, on the other hand, is keen on equal division of all assesses between the two authorities to ensure single interface with any one authority in line with constitutional amendment. It has mooted the idea of crossempowerment wherein both authorities can work in tandem on key functions of audit and registration of new assesses

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

“Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India has suggested removal of a provision in the revised Model GST Law dealing with anti-profiteering since it is open to misuse and subjective interpretation,” Assocham said in a statement here on Friday.

In the revised Model GST Law, the central government has been given powers to constitute an authority to examine whether input tax credits availed of by any registered taxable person, or the benefit of a reduction in the tax rate, has resulted in a commensurate reduction in the price of the goods or services supplied.

Also, the authority would have powers to impose penalties where the prices of goods or services supplied are not reduced. “While the intent of such a proposal cannot be questioned, the industry believes that it will be very difficult to implement and the costs of compliance and administration will significantly outweigh the risks that some businesses will seek to ‘profiteer’ from the change in indirect tax systems,” the statement added.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics (NACEN) was given the humongous task of training government officers on Goods and Service Tax (GST). As per the latest data of NACEN , 44,259 field officers have been trained.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

Telecom operators have made fresh representations to the finance ministry seeking a uniform rate across states with a cap of 15 per cent in the proposed goods and services tax (GST) regime.

[Ganeshan Kalyani]

"Telecom is an infrastructure service designated as an essential service under the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1968, and is availed by masses," said Rajan Mathews, director- general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

[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.