GST reform has been hanging fire since 2006-07.
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The GST Bill, introduced in Parliament in 2010, is being vetted by the Standing Committee on Finance. Now, the states and the Centre would together finalise the draft and bring it back to Parliament.
The meeting of the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories began with some states demanding that they be allowed to charge service tax on certain items pending a decision on the implementation of VAT.
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The Direct Taxes Code bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in 2010 and Standing Committee on Finance has given a report after its scrutiny.
The bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha after the Speaker rejected Opposition demands to refer the key reform measure to a parliamentary Standing Committee.
The empowered committee on GST headed by West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta has agreed to a dual structure of the proposed indirect tax regime, which is likely to be introduced from April 2010. The new tax regime would do away with most of the indirect taxes levied at the Centre like excise and services tax, and VAT and Octroi at the State level.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Companies are worried that any staggered roll-out of GST could result in cash flow issues with businesses not able claim tax credit due to breakage in the chain
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who is meeting state finance ministers on Thursday to garner support for the Constitution Amendment Bill for a goods & services tax (GST), is likely to immediately dole out about Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) in Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation to states.
According to Mitra, items such as foodgrain, vegetables, leather goods, footwear, cottage cheese, puffed and flattened rice, books and entertainment tax, among several others, should be in the zero-tax bracket.
The number of cyberfraud cases has skyrocketed from 2,677 in 1999-2000 to 29,082 in FY24 -- more than a 10-fold increase. The RBI pegs digital payment frauds at Rs 1,457 crore in FY24, up more than five times in a year. It's not just the number of frauds. What's alarming is the growing sophistication of the fraudsters, exposing the vulnerabilities within the financial system, observes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The disagreement between the Centre and states continued over administrative powers.
The largest challenge for the gigantic exercise between the Centre and the 29 states was to keep the latter interested over the years.
States' demand for 5 years and Constitutional provision ruled out
The GST will replace more than a dozen levies central and state levies, including central excise duty, service tax and central sales tax as well as VAT on sale of goods and entry tax, to make movement of goods seamless across 1.3 billion market.
The announcement of a deferral is expected to be part of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget speech on February 29.
State finance ministers' panel to decide on latest attempt at harmonising of views on Constitution amendment.
In its election manifesto -- 'Sankalp Patra' -- the Bharatiya Janata Party has vowed to implement the Union Civil Code (UCC), maintain peace in the Northeast, among other key poll promises.
The meeting has been called as the Finance Minister P Chidambaram did not extend a March 31 deadline for the trusts to get regular tax exemption through the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation.
GST will also make our exports more competitive and also provide a level playing field to domestic industry to compete with imports, the President said.
The FAQ also clarified that companies, including Titan, which supplies watches and jewels through their own websites will not be considered as e-commerce operators
The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers got its new chairman on Monday in Jammu and Kashmir's Abdul Rahim Rather.
At present, the EPF subscribers are exempted from paying income tax on deposits.
'Interim Budget has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit.'
The government will find it difficult to pass the Bill without the Congress's help
Even though the NIA claims that more than 90 per cent of cases charge-sheeted have ended in conviction, the figure is likely misleading. To date, very few cases investigated by the NIA have resulted in a completed trial, points out former CBI joint director Navneet Rajan Wasan.
Simpler GST structure will be key poll plank, Congress sources tell Archis Mohan.
'He will go to any extent, and he will have the full support of the Union government as they may not like a Left government to continue here.'
Apart from the much-reported constitutional and political hurdles on a national Goods and Services Tax (GST), there is another basic one. Barely half of dealers in the country have a Permanent Account Number (PAN) from the tax department.
In a string of tweets and replies, Swamy also said that GST can be implemented only if the Supreme Court clears a petition on levy of entry tax
Offering an olive branch to the Opposition to get the GST bill passed, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is willing to speak to everyone to get the landmark indirect tax law through.
By doing away with the 1 per cent inter-state tax over and above the GST rate, the government has met one of the three key demands over which Opposition Congress has been blocking the Bill in the Upper House
States' demand of compensation from Centre for loss of tax revenue not on agenda.
Delivering the key mote address at the Citi's Investor Summit, Jaitley hoped that as a professional organisation the Reserve Bank will take 'the best decision'.
Jaitley said the Congress may be upset with the government for 'political reasons'
Common items between Centre and states - bread, eggs, milk, vegetables, cereals, books and salt - will continue to be exempted.
A minimum levy of 12 per cent GST on tea will increase the cost, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers.
Arun Jaitley said he would put the DTC Bill in cold storage.
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