Suggestions for Indian States To Get Through GST Law Easily

The passage of the long-pending in both houses is no less than a milestone for a country like India. The govt expects that the GST law will bring the economy on track and the new tax reform will assure hassle free taxation system. The 122nd constitution amendment bill received President Pranab Mukherjee’s nod on Sept. 8 this month. Following this, the govt is striving to conquer the deadline of April 1, 2017. Recently, the GST council was formed over the decision taken by the union cabinet headed by Prime minister Narendra Modi.

The main role that the GST council will play in deciding several GST rates for the corporates and sectors in the country. It will also decide the excise and service tax, sales tax, entry tax under the union government. The GST council meeting will be held on Sept. 22-23 as per the official reports.

The GST Bill (extensive consultations are into a process to refine the existing draft) will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament commencing in November 2016. The union government has aimed that during the first five years of implementation of the GST, any downfall in sales tax revenue will be compensated. The adjustment to GST and the rate structure will be decided by the council taking all the states collectively.

Now, we will discuss the factors that will help the states to effectively implement the GST law. The five effective guidelines from the policymakers is as follows:

Forming GST Task-force

The GST taskforce will be headed by the representatives from expertise such as chartered accountants, industry bodies, an information technology specialist, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) representatives and some economists.

The main work of the GST Task-force would be:

• Collecting details about the registry of all GST taxpayers, ensuring that they are filing their tax returns. The GST revenue collected will be set as the base of the revenue.

• Studying the compliance costs of GST, particularly the SMEs. This sector requires a proper attention for the profitability and competitiveness.

• Keeping the track record of the GST input tax credit and refund processes.

Read Also:GST Benefits for Startups in India

A positive approach towards the implementation of GST

• It is the duty of the states that they take the GST in a positive manner and play their best part in the implementation. The States should come forward for preparing the GST literature in the regional language so that it becomes easy for the common people of the region to understand the laws and regulations. The uniformity of GST is essential for the smooth functioning of sales tax in the common internal markets.

• State government should take important measures to ensure the basic goods and services in the state, especially the medicines and food items. The state should also actively participate in the GST council and put their recommendations in front of the council representatives.

• Also, using the GSTN (The Goods and Services Network) and the expertise in order to establish a common online portal for the GST taxpayers. It can eventually help the policy-relevant avenues for analytics and data mining. States may also obtain valuable services from the GSTN in order to learn the GST revenue potential.