Goods and Services Tax Bill (GST)

Introduction

According to the reports and the articles prepared by the government officials, Goods and Services Tax is nothing but a destination-based tax on goods and services. It is designed in such a way that the tax is levied at all the stages, it starts from the production to the final consumption of the final product. The following are the taxes that will be subsumed with the newly introduced GST: –

• Central excise duty.
• Duties of Excise include medicinal and toilet preparation.
• Additional duties this include goods of special importance.
• Additional duties this include the Textile and the textile products.
• Additional duties of custom which is also known as CVD.
• Special additional duty of customs which is also known as SAD.
• Central surcharges and Cesses and they are related to supply of goods and services.

Details

Apart from these the following are the host of taxes that were being collected by the state government and will now be subsumed by the GST: –

1. State VAT.
2. Central sales tax.

• Luxury tax.

1. Entry tax in all forms.
2. All the entertainment and the amusement taxes.
3. Purchase tax.

• Lottery tax.
• Taxes on betting and gambling.

1. State surcharges and Cessesso

After the introduction of the GST there was a whole lot of debates and that is why the concerning bodies of the government has many wings to train the state government officials. And apart from this the central government has also introduced many documents and press releases so that the people of the country can understand the basic functions of this new tax system. Basically GST has reformed the whole tax system of the country. It simplified and unified by various taxes that were imposed by the state and the central government.

Objectives of GST

The following are some of the objectives of the GST:-

• To ensure and introduce unified tax in the country.
• To also increase the competitiveness of the original goods and services so that it can increase the GDP.
• The GST also ensures the availability of the input credit across value chain.
• The most important objective is to remove the complications that are related with the tax system.
• Introducing unified law for the taxes in the country.
• GST will decrease the unhealthy among the states with its taxes and revenues.
• Also this new system will reduce the tax slabs.

Benefits of GST

According to reports issued by the government of India and other press articles, the GST is a very significant step in this country to unify indirect taxes. GST is supposed to amalgamate the taxes of the central government and also the taxes by the state government into a single tax. This is also supposed to mitigate the cascading effects and pave a way for the common national market.

And according to the government reports and data the by the introduction of this GST the consumers will be high gainers because there will be a reduction on the overall tax and will result in the reduction of about twenty to thirty percent tax on the government. And with the introduction of the GST, our products are supposed to be more competitive in the national and the international market.

According to studies this is supposed to boost the economic growth by many folds. On the other hand the revenue gain for the state and the central government will also increase due to the widening of the tax base. This will improve the trade volume and will also enhance the tax compliance. And lastly because of its transparent nature this tax will be much easy to administer.

Eligibility and the conditions applying

Any person who is involved in providing goods and services with an annual aggregate of more than twenty lakh is eligible for GST registration. But, in special categories and few states the minimum amount has been reduced to 10 lakh. And apart from these there are a host of rules and regulations that are very much applicable on this new system. The following are some of key points:-

• The GST registration is mandatory for the supply of interstate goods and services. For example, GST will be levied if a businessman of Delhi is supplying goods and services to a businessman of West Bengal.
• All the business entities who have registered for the VAT and the service tax are eligible for the GST registration and in some cases it is mandatory to have this new registration to continue the business smoothly.
• All the e-commerce sellers have to register for the GST irrespective of their annual turnover in the business.
• All the casual taxable have to register for the GST. These entities have no fixed business or annual turnovers. For example the people who sell fire crackers during the festival seasons.

Documents required for the GST registration

The following are the list of the documents required for the GST registration: –

• PAN card of the GST registration applicant.
• Proof of business registration and or the incorporation certificates.
• Identity proofs of the promoters with proper photographs.
• Address proof of the business establishment.
• Bank account details showing the name, address and the other relevant details of the applicant.
• Class two digital signatures for the authorized signatory.

How to apply

One can apply for the GST registration and the GST number from the official web portal of the government. By filling up a simple form one will be able to register for the GST online.

Important link

https://reg.gst.gov.in/registration/

Conclusion

After many years of discussion and after many changes and modification finally the GST has been implemented in India. The GST is supposed to unify and at the same time simplify the tax structure and also increase the GDP by a substantial amount. The government has created the official web portal from where the business owners can register for the GST number. The GST registration has become mandatory in India for all the business owners.