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7
April 2017
Decks
have been cleared for implementation of the biggest indirect tax reform since
independence, with parliamentary approval to the GST as Rajya Sabha on Thursday
passed the four enabling bills for its roll out, possibly from July 1. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
The
long-awaited four bills -- Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill,
Integrated GST Bill, Compensation GST Bill and Union Territory GST Bill 2017 --
were passed by the Rajya Sabha and returned to Lok Sabha, after a discussion of
almost nine hours spread across two days. The Lok Sabha had passed the bills
last week. The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
Talking
to reporters after the bills were passed by parliament, Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley said it was a "historic day." He said it took almost 11 years
to build a consensus on the roll out of GST.
He said
the government is still looking at July 1 date for rolling out the new indirect
tax regime.
"If
any issues crop up, then the GST Council will address them.
"We
are already in a transition phase. There will be some challenges because we are
switching to a new regime. Some relaxation will be given in compliance,"
he added.
Earlier,
replying to the debate on the four bills in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said that
the goods that are exempted from taxes at present will remain so once GST is
implemented.
He also
said there is provision of quarterly returns to make tax filing easier under
the GST.
Noting
that both the central and state governments are pooling their sovereignty to
have this tax regime, Jaitley noted that India, despite being one political
entity, had remained different economic entities with states having different
taxes.
"GST
is the only tax which is simultaneously levied by Centre and states," he
said.
Jaitley
said that the Council has decided that the petroleum products though they have
been included under GST, will remain zero rated as of now. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
"The
Council decided that we will take up the issue of petroleum products in a year
after implementation of GST. Today, constitutionally, petroleum products are
under GST, but will be zero rated. So once Council decides it can be taxed
under GST, we won't need to amend the Constitution," he said.
On
demands of change in the structure of Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN)
that is creating the information technology backbone for the new indirect tax
regime, Jaitley said that the shareholding pattern has been set after detailed
discussions to ensure the flexibility of the company.
"Government
can acquire 1-2 per cent more shares in GSTN, but not sure if the flexibility
will remain. We have not felt the need of altering the arrangement. The
management structure created has to face penal consequences if any information
is leaked," he said.
The
Central government owns 24.5 per cent stake in GSTN, state governments own
another 24.5 per cent, while the HDFC, NSE Strategic Investment Corporation,
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank own 10 per cent each. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
LIC
Finance holds 11 per cent stake in GSTN, according to the Registrar of
Companies (RoC) filings, obtained by IANS from business research platform
Tofler.
Taking
part in the debate in the upper house, Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United
said that "GST should be made easy, so people do not have any tax related
problems".
Praful
Patel of the Nationalist Congress Party expressed apprehension over the
proposed "harsh punishments" in the GST Bills. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
Sitaram
Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist expressed his unhappiness over
GST having been brought in the Rajya Sabha as a Finance Bill. He was supported
by Jairam Ramesh of Congress and D. Raja of the Communist Party of India. The Total Investment & Insurance
Solutions
"Parliament
cannot be ignored," he said, suggesting that GST should be audited by the
Comptroller and Auditor General. The
Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
The
four GST-related bills were passed after amendments moved by by Trinamool
Congress MP Derek O' Brien and CPI-M leader Tapan Sen were negatived after
division.
Ramesh
did not press his amendments saying that he was following advice of former
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to maintain consensus. The Total Investment & Insurance Solutions
There
also have been demands from some stakeholders to delay implementation of GST.
All
India Tax Advocates' Forum (AITAF) President M.K. Gandhi said in a statement on
Thursday that the new tax roll-out should be delayed by at least a quarter as
industry, especially small time assesees, would require time to prepare
themselves.The Total Investment &
Insurance Solutions
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