Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, a hike in GST rates would have hampered consumption amid the economic slowdown. The revenue augmentation panel in the Council meeting recently recommended revisiting and restructuring the GST rate slabs, besides correcting the inverted duty structure. The panel listed 24 items, including mobile phones, footwear, fabrics, LED light, medical equipment, utensils, agri machinery, pharma, and renewable components, which have an inverted duty structure, resulting in refunds of close to Rs 20,000 crore annually.
Next meeting of the Council will be on June 18, when it will take up lottery taxes and e-way bill.
As corporate India gears up to be GST-ready, the ongoing litigation and tax dispute cases are something most businesses are cagey about.
Last week, a Rajya Sabha committee had allocated five hours for discussion on GST.
Gujarat and Karnataka have been ranked as the best performers in developing startup ecosystem for budding entrepreneurs, according to the ranking of states and Union territories by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Among smaller states having population of less than one crore, Meghalaya has been adjudged as the best performer. The rankings are based on the initiatives taken to develop the startup ecosystem for promoting budding entrepreneurs.
Small and medium enterprises had complained of tedious compliance burden under the Goods and Services Tax
Assembly elections coming up in November and December could offer a window of opportunity to the government to make GST attractive through rate cuts.
Rama Krishna Sangu, partner, Manohar Chowdhry & Associates, Chartered Accountants, and a member of the Indirect Tax Committee of ICAI, fielded readers' questions on GST on Rediff Chat.
The prime minister is aware that whatever be its consequences, a new taxation regime cannot be launched closer to the general elections in 2019. Thus, any date after April 2017 for the launch of GST is risky, says A K Bhattacharya.
Others taxed at 5, 12, 18, 28%
Since the legal changes in the draft laws would take some time, it was decided to postpone the November 25 meeting
GST reform has been hanging fire since 2006-07.
Singapore's single-rate GST structure cannot be India's model. But its practice of early announcement of rates much before their implementation should be emulated by India, says A K Bhattacharya.
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.
If the government tries to bring in real estate under GST now, it will be a typical case of biting more than what one can chew, says Sukumar Mukhopadhyay.
The opposition parties vehemently criticised the new 'one nation, one tax' system having four different rates instead of a single rate adopted in some countries including the UK and Singapore.
The shift from 'one country, one tax' to four tax rates could dilute possible gains on GDP, warns T N Ninan.
New GST rates are between 5-18% on sectoral products
'A broad-based revival of private sector investment was likely in 2018-19 after businesses had successfully made the switch to the GST.'
A GST roll-out by April 1 looks difficult, giving the companies some succour.
The NCP said that all 3 MVA partners are united in running the coalition government in Maharashtra, but no decision has been taken so far on alliance for the 2024 assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Jaitley said the GST Composition Scheme, under which small traders and businesses pay a 1 per cent tax based on turnover, can be availed by businesses with a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore, against the earlier Rs 1 crore, with effect from April 1.
The GST rate for the sector has not yet been finalised by the government.
GST implementation could happen in September itself, with the next meeting of the Union Cabinet likely to take up the matter.
The GST rates for all but six items were finalised at the first day of the two-day meeting of the GST Council, headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and comprising state representatives.
The panel suggested inclusion of alcohol and petroleum products in GST, as is being demanded by the Congress.
He will succeed Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani.
Close to 202,000 new entities have registered under the GST Network
The fiscal gains from implementing the GST and demonetisation, while almost certain to occur, will probably take time to be fully realised
Beside flying squads from RTOs at different points on highways, challans are imposed without any reason. The situation is especially difficult in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh.
Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to acquire the iconic Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai for Rs 1,601 crore. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet in Mumbai. The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, also decided to waive off around Rs 250 crore unrealised income and interest on the property, an official said.
The BJP leadership is understandably mulling all options on the roll-out of the GST.
The empowered committee of state finance ministers has virtually trashed the Thirteenth Finance Commission taskforce's Goods and Services Tax report.
The government is going all out to spread awareness about the new indirect tax regime, and training lawmakers is being seen as a necessary first step.
There are both positive and negative impacts of the tax, but the net result for India's infrastructure sector is advantageous, says Vinayak Chatterjee.
The mop-up could have been much higher, but tax on imports fell 2 per cent y-o-y.
Maharashtra raises vehicle registration fee, Tamil Nadu ups entertainment tax
Assocham president Niranjan Hiranandani said his talks with government officials showed dues to industry and states were pending in the form of refunds of income tax, value-added tax, and GST, and compensation, payments to discoms in the power sector, fertiliser subsidies, etc.
As the new Tax Collection at Source (TCS) on foreign remittances is set to become applicable from October 1, travel agents' body TAAI has made a last-minute plea to the government, urging them to abolish the decision or defer its implementation until the next fiscal year to allow discussions on overseas tour packages. The government has raised the TCS on foreign remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) from 5 per cent to 20 per cent. This will be applicable to international travel, sending money abroad and other remittances.
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