GST gets presidents Approval

[Star Wars]

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...ion-amendment-bill-on-gst-116090800771_1.html

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday gave assent to Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST), a major step towards rolling out the new indirect tax regime which the Modi government wants to come into effect from April 1 next year.

Mukherjee has given approval to the bill, official sources said today.

The passage of the bill will pave the way for setting up of a GSTcouncil that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges.

The GST is a single indirect tax which will subsume most of the central and state taxes such as Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duty, service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs.

The Parliament had on August 8 passed the bill which was then circulated to state governments seeking its ratification. A Constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by the legislative Assemblies of at least 50 per cent of the states.

The bill was sent to the President's secretariat after as many as 17 states, BJP-ruled Assam being the first, ratified the bill.

The other states which have passed the legislation include Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Goa, Odisha and Rajasthan.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia had recently said that the government is ahead of schedule for implementation of GST.

"Instead of 30 days kept for this (states' ratification), it is achieved in 23 days," he had said in a tweet.

Now that the bill has got Presidential assent, the government will notify the GST Council, which will decide on the taxrate. Headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Council will comprise state Finance Ministers.

The states and the Centre are working overtime and talking to stakeholders to draft the Central GST, State GST and Integrated GST laws, which are to be passed in the Winter Session of Parliament.

The CGST and IGST will be drafted on the basis of the model GST law. The states will draft their respective State GST(SGST) laws with minor variation incorporating state-based exemptions. The IGST law would deal with inter-state movement of goods and services.

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that was fast.....

 

[Donald Trump]

Hardly any Congress states on the bandwagon!!

 

[Grevion]

Well that was quick.
Our system can work that fast.

 

[kmc_chacko]

Well that was quick.
Our system can work that fast.

I felt the same.

GST now one step closer to implement from 01.04.2017

Congrats for all those who co-operated.

 

[Echo_419]

Well that was quick.
Our system can work that fast.

At-least some one is doing work in the Government

 

[Grevion]

I felt the same.

GST now one step closer to implement from 01.04.2017

Congrats for all those who co-operated.

Now the GST councils needs to be set up followed by the training of the officers and the 1 April 2017 timeline looks like very much achievable.

At-least some one is doing work in the Government

I know where you're getting with this.

 

[JanjaWeed]

Hardly any Congress states on the bandwagon!!

Hardly any economically significant Congress states are there to make any difference, apart from Karnataka!

 

[Acknowledge]

The real challenge starts now.

GST council formation and the resultant fight on tax rates.

 

[Soumitra]

GST Rate Structure Finanlised, Slabs From 5% To 28%

The GST Council has finanlised a four-tier rate structure of 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who heads the panel, said on Thursday.

Mr Jaitley said that under the rate structure, food items comprising about 50 per cent of the consumer inflation index would not attract any tax.

The finance minister said that there would be two standard rates - the rates at which bulk of the goods would be taxed - of 12 per cent and 18 per cent.

Items of mass consumption would come under the 5 per cent GST rate. Additional revenue from the 28 per cent slab will be used for compensating the loss from the 5 per cent slab, Mr Jaitley said.

The minister said that under the current tax rate, most white goods attract 30-31 per cent tax rate. Most white goods are likely to be taxed at 28 per cent.

The GST panel also approved cess on some products like tobacco products, aerated drinks, pan masala, which would be effectively taxed higher than 28 per cent.

Mr Jaitley said that cess on sin goods will be added to the pool to compensate states for any revenue loss, if any.

The minister said that the GST rate on gold will be later decided by the GST Council.

The government plans to implement GST from April 1 next year. The one-nation, one-tax will transform the country into a single market, thus boosting revenues through better compliance while making life simpler for businesses that now pay a host of central and state levies.

Mr Jaitley also said the individual items which will fall under different tax categories will be decided later.

 

[Śakra]

4 tax slabs?!?! Ridiculous

 

[Nilgiri]

4 tax slabs?!?! Ridiculous

Whats wrong with that?

You want basic things like rice, dahl and veggies to be taxed at same rate as alcohol, tobacco and luxury goods?

 

[Śakra]

Whats wrong with that?

You want basic things like rice, dahl and veggies to be taxed at same rate as alcohol, tobacco and luxury goods?

In BC we have 2 tax slabs, clothes and stuff taxed at 5% while everything else at 12%. That should be how it is in India. Max 2 slabs.

 

[jha]

Basic consumer items probably will become cheaper.

 

[Nilgiri]

In BC we have 2 tax slabs, clothes and stuff taxed at 5% while everything else at 12%. That should be how it is in India. Max 2 slabs.

Don't forget the 0% for basic groceries, at least we have that in Ontario.

The good thing about more slabs means more optimised and lower inflation. I think 4 (effectively 5 with the 0% basic goods) slabs is fine....not too many by any stretch and it was reached as a consensus by many experts from the states that make up India.

That (inflation) was a bad problem in Canada for many goods when they first introduced the GST.

I mean 99% of the "complexity" is the actual hardware + network used for GST system. Actual effective tax slabs make little impact on complexity....might as well go the extra mile to minimise inflation or even give an inflation "rebate" to many consumers which is what I suspect will happen.

It will time nicely with the rebound happening in Indian economy right now.

 

[Śakra]

Don't forget the 0% for basic groceries, at least we have that in Ontario.

We don't have this in BC

The good thing about more slabs means more optimised and lower inflation. I think 4 (effectively 5 with the 0% basic goods) slabs is fine....not too many by any stretch and it was reached as a consensus by many experts from the states that make up India.

I don't understand how kiranas will implement GST. Is the government giving out POS devices to them?