RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE GOODS AND SERVICE TAX REGIME

As a recent development in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Lok Sabha, on 29^th March 2017, has passed four key GST Bills, i.e. Central GST (CGST) Bill, Integrated GST (IGST) Bill, Compensation GST Bill and Union Territory GST (UTGST) Bill, by negating the amendments recommended by the Opposition Party. Now, for rolling out the new tax system the State GST laws have to be enacted by each state within 3 months.

The GST is an indirect taxation which will subsume most of the existing taxes such as Centre-level taxes like sales tax, service tax, excise duty, additional customs duty, surcharges, etc, and state-level taxes like value-added tax (VAT), entertainment tax, luxury tax, etc.

The CGST Bill will enable the Central Government to levy and collect tax, a maximum of 20 per cent, on the intra-state supply of goods and services. A similar tax will be levied by states through the State-GST law.

The IGST Bill provides for levy and collection of tax, a maximum of 40 per cent, on the inter-state supply of goods and services.

The Compensation GST Bill will provide for compensation to the states for the loss of revenue they may incur due to the implementation of the GST law.

The UTGST Bill will enable levy and collection of tax, a maximum of 20 per cent, on intra-state supply of goods and services or both by union territories.

Therefore, the new tax regime is expected to benefit the entire nation including the common people as they will have to pay only one tax, instead of multiple taxes, for the purchase and sale of any type of goods and services.

Harini Daliparthy

Legal Associate