A road map could be laid out for a gradual reduction in the tax rates from the current incidence of about 62-94 per cent without causing a major blow to the revenues of the Centre and the states. The opportunity arising out of higher GST collections should not be squandered, says A K Bhattacharya.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said it is not possible to bring petrol and diesel under the GST regime for the next eight to 10 years as it would cause an annual revenue loss of Rs 2 lakh crore to all states. Centre and states collectively collect over Rs 5 lakh crore tax on petroleum products, Modi told the Rajya Sabha while participating in a discussion on the Finance Bill 2021. The statement assumes significance in view of the rise in petrol price for the past over one year which even touched Rs 100 per litre in some states. In the first reduction in rates in over a year, petrol price on Wednesday was cut by 18 paise per litre and diesel by 17 paise a litre as international oil prices tumbled to the lowest since early February.
The Centre would need the concurrence of 20 states out of 29 to impose a GST on petroleum
Banerjee asked Modi not to allow "an insufferable blow to the federalist polity of the nation" by depriving the states of the GST compensation. "I am deeply anguished by the Goods and Services Tax imbroglio which tantamounts to a betrayal of the trust and moral responsibility of the Government of India towards the states, violating the very premise of federalism."
Experts share their views on the steps that will help businesses become GST-ready.
Criticising various provisions in the proposed GST regime, Moily said it will be a "technological nightmare" and the anti-profiteering provisions in it are "far too draconian."
The FM flew to Chennai on Sunday to inaugurate Nandavanam, the central revenue quarters of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs at Anna Nagar in Chennai.
Consensus seems a problem before the current session of Parliament ends.
The proposed exemption in customs duty on import of lithium, cobalt and other rare minerals in the Union Budget 2024-25 is likely to lower the battery production cost and help in making electric vehicles more affordable for the buyers, auto industry leaders said on Tuesday.
While the government has the option of ensuring the passage of these Bills as money Bills, there are voices within the government advising discretion on the GST roll-out by April 1.
The compensation would be met through levy of a cess called 'GST Compensation Cess' on luxury items and sin goods like tobacco, for the first five years.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up the four bills related to the GST, with the Opposition urging the government to insulate taxpayers from harassment and questioning how the new regime was "ideal" when 40 per cent of the revenue base of the GDP was kept out of its purview.
Any judgement on whether the March numbers reflect sustainable growth in GST collection should ideally await the numbers that will be out in May, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Godrej group Chairman Adi Godrej describes in an interview to Viveat Susan Pinto the way forward for the conglomerate after the implementation of the GST.
'At the end of the day, we want to see maximum items out and only few items remaining in the 28 per cent slab.'
Hospitality and travel sector players on Tuesday demanded infrastructure status for the hotel industry besides measures such as tax exemption on LTA annually to boost domestic tourism ahead of the Union Budget. They also recommended removal of the current TDS levied on automated bookings for internal or closed user groups such as business travel platforms and reducing the total number of licenses required to establish a hotel. "A full-blown infrastructure status for the hotel sector and further rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a Central single window clearance for hotel projects are some of the major expectations from the Budget 2024," Roseate Hotels & Resorts CEO Kush Kapoor said in a statement.
In the 2017 budget, the government accorded infrastructure status for affordable projects to help such projects raise loans at lower rates
While demand for sub Rs 50-lakh affordable housing prevails, market players cite increased land rates, escalated construction costs and low margins as key prohibiting factors.
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 total revenue earned by central government and state governments after regular settlement in December was Rs 43,851 crore for CGST and Rs 46,252 crore for SGST.
Aimed at creating a single tax for goods and services across the country, government on Friday introduced the long-pending GST Bill in the Lok Sabha for roll-out of the new regime from April 2016 subsuming various levies like entry tax and octroi.
After a brief health scare at the year-end, when she was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi on December 26 with a reported 'minor stomach infection, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy in New Delhi on Friday, January 6, 2022.
As per the revised return filing timeline decided by the Council, for July, the sale returns will have to be filed by September 5 instead of August 10. Companies will have to file sale invoice for August with the GST Network by September 20 instead of September 10 earlier.
The consensus was reached after the Centre agreed to the demand of states to go in for horizontal split
A corpus of Rs 20,000-30,000 crore is under consideration, to narrow the input tax credit cycle and facilitate their working capital requirements.
On Thursday, the Business Advisory Committee of the Lok Sabha, which allocates time for the Bills and discussions to be taken up for the forthcoming week, met, but the government strategists didn't ask the members to allocate time for the GST Bills for the next week.
This provision is a very smart rule against fraudster and would not affect any genuine business entities or Ease of Doing Business in any manner, said a source.
The new government may also introduce a separate scheme for revival of stranded gas-based power projects
The object of the government policy cannot be such that luxury items become cheaper, pointed out Jaitley.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Goods like chocolates, chewing gum, shampoo, deodorant, shoe polish, detergents, nutrition drinks and marble will now attract 18% GST>
To improve compliance, govt may introduce lottery reward for filing GST. The Consumer Welfare Fund, where anti-profiteering proceeds are deposited, will be used to reward the lucky winners on monthly and annual bases. The prize money, yet to be fixed, may run into several lakhs of rupees for the annual draw, and about Rs 50,000 for monthly draws.
The old India was economically fragmented. New India will create one tax, one market, one nation, said Jaitley.
'Challenge is basically near-term growth as the outlook has turned a bit adverse.'
It is far from clear that this GST will have the silver bullet effect that the "pure" GST would have provided, says Mihir S Sharma.
There have been complaints from consumers that the firm has increased the base price of products and then charged the lower GST rate, thereby keeping the MRP of products the same in pre and post tax rate cut.
The CAG has found that the Union government in the very first two years of the GST implementation wrongly retained Rs 47,272 crore of GST compensation cess that was meant to be used specifically to compensate states for loss of revenue.
Maharashtra raises vehicle registration fee, Tamil Nadu ups entertainment tax
'Significant reductions in the compliance obligations mean businesses earlier struggling to comply will now have enough time to prepare and comply within the extended timelines.'
Agriculture implements that are currently taxed up to 18 per cent may come under the 12 per cent or the 5 per cent bracket.
