The focus will be on tackling the unfinished agenda requiring immediate attention like tax structure for solar projects, uniform tax rate on state-organised and state-authorised lotteries, taxing non-potable alcohol besides certain changes in the law, extension for NAA and rate rationalisation.
An area of worry relates to simplification of the refund procedure where the inverted duty structure prevails
The government should bring natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for a gas-based economy and raising the share of the environment-friendly fuel in India's energy basket, an industry body that represents the likes of Reliance Industries as well as state-owned firms, has said. Natural gas is currently outside the ambit of GST, and existing legacy taxes -- central excise duty, state VAT, central sales tax -- continue to be applicable on the fuel. In its pre-Budget memorandum to the finance ministry, Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), which boasts of members from across the oil and gas spectrum, also demanded rationalisation of GST on transportation of natural gas through pipeline as well as on re-gasification of imported LNG to help bring down cost of the environment friendly fuel.
The minister said he was able to build consensus on VAT when he was the Finance Minister during the UPA-I term.
The government on Wednesday decided not to hold special session of Parliament to pass the constitution amendment bill for rolling out Goods and Services Tax and will recommend to the President to prorogue the Monsoon Session.
"The industry is looking at a rate of 12-16 per cent. So, it entirely depends on how it gets. But the bigger concern is how the GST is applied," said R Chandrashekhar, president of Nasscom.
The finance minister said the government was open to suggestions.
'... the government provides adequate cash and kind support for the poorest of the poor for survival... ...conditional cash and skilling support for the economically poor to raise their incomes to adequate levels... ...and make functional arrangements for providing unemployment allowance to the vulnerable poor during disasters like the present one.'
Its officers would wear black bands on Monday, which is also Martyrs day, the IRS Association (Customs and Central Excise) has said.
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
The object of the government policy cannot be such that luxury items become cheaper, pointed out Jaitley.
"After the meeting which took place in Srinagar last week, it is safe to say that GST will be levied across the country starting July 1," Gangwar told ANI.
GST Bill needs a two-thirds majority in each House.
Retaining the GST rate assumes importance since states are under pressure to increase their revenues, hit hard by lockdown. Also, the Centre has not fully compensated states for their revenue losses on account of GST for 2019-20.
"If there is proper debate in parliament, followed by a vote, then even without the Congress' support, we have a chance to pass it," says Union Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha.
States will have exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue threshold of Rs 1.5 crore in a year
'There is global appreciation of the fact that India has the capacity and courage to carry out structural reforms like demonetisation and GST,' the finance minister said.
Modi said the Goods and Services Tax has within one year of its launch led to over 70 per cent jump in indirect taxpayer base, demolished check-posts and merged 17 taxes and 23 cesses into one single tax.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appealed to parties to rise above partisan considerations to support it.
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.
'Nirmalaji must consider herself a very lucky finance minister, partly because of the government's response to covid and partly because we as a nation have done very well as an economy, post pandemic.'
There could be a strong incentive for tax payers to avoid the higher tax burden.
The states which achieved "extraordinary growth" in total taxes collected include Kerala (44 per cent), Jharkhand (20 per cent), Rajasthan (14 per cent), Uttarakhand (13 per cent) and Maharashtra (11 per cent), an official statement said.
Addressing a business conference, Jaitley said it was important to stay on the path of reform and build momentum to achieve higher economic growth.
The panel decided to omit the reverse charge mechanism (RCM) clause from the GST law under which registered taxpayers buying from unregistered taxpayers have to deposit the GST.
Laying the roadmap for the introduction of a goods and service tax (GST), state governments on Tuesday proposed a dual GST structure, with two rates for goods and a single rate for services. The tax would be levied both by the Centre and the states, though there is still no clarity when the new tax regime will be implemented.
The Council also discussed process to make return filing simpler with just one return to be filed every month.
The panel suggested inclusion of alcohol and petroleum products in GST, as is being demanded by the Congress.
"This rationalisation is 3-4 month exercise," he said, adding that the GST Council decided on the rate cut on the recommendation of a Fitment Committee.
The question on who should borrow from the market and whether the borrowing will be under two buckets should be decided by the GST Council, and not by the Centre. If there is no consensus, there has to be a vote, says A K Bhattacharya.
He's the hero for forging consensus on GST, popular in the Left Front and among his students, but industrialists are less than enamoured.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
With just eight days left for the winter session, Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minster M Venkaiah Naidu held consultations with Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Deputy Leader Anand Sharma.
He also said GST will take about a year to stabilise.
'The private sector believes that some enablers in labour-intensive sectors like apparel, toys, tourism, and media retail, can unlock a lot of jobs.'
Dosa batter, custard powder, kitchen lighter may become cheaper under GST
Modi on Friday invited the Congress leaders at his Race Course Road residence at 7 PM, sources said.
Fiscal federalism should not be sacrificed at the altar of GST.
The transition to a single, nationwide tax on goods and services will streamline business and boost the economy by tearing down barriers between 31 states and union territories.
Enthused by the consensus in reaching four-tiered GST tax structure, particularly the unanimity achieved with Congress-ruled states, senior government sources were confident that the Central GST and Integrated GST Bills will be passed by both the Houses.
