Goods and Services Tax (GST): An Overview

New Delhi,
st
01 July, 2016

I. Introduction

Introduction of GST would be a very significant step in the field of

indirect tax reforms in India. By amalgamating a large number of Central and
State taxes into a single tax and allowing set-off of prior-stage taxes, it would
mitigate the ill effects of cascading and pave the way for a common national
market. For the consumers, the biggest gain would be in terms of a reduction in
the overall tax burden on goods, which is currently estimated at 25%-30%.
Introduction of GST would also make our products competitive in the domestic
and international markets. Studies show that this would instantly spur economic
growth.There may also be revenue gain for the Centre and the States due to
widening of the tax base, increase in trade volumes and improved tax
compliance. Last but not the least, this tax, because of its transparent character,
would be easier to administer.

II. Genesis

2. The idea of moving towards the GST was first mooted by the then Union
Finance Minister in his Budget speech for 2006-07. Initially, it was proposed
that GST would be introduced by 01stApril, 2010. The Empowered Committee
of State Finance Ministers (EC) which had formulated the design of State VAT
was requested to come up with a roadmap and structure for the GST. Joint
Working Groups of officials having representation of the States as well as the
Centre were set up to examine various aspects of the GST and draw up reports
specifically on exemptions and thresholds, taxation of services and taxation of
inter-State supplies. Based on discussions within and between it and the Central
Government, the Empowered Committee released its First Discussion Paper on
the GST in November, 2009. This spells out the features of the proposed GST
and has formed the basis for discussion between the Centre and the States so
far.

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III. Salient Features of GST

3. The salient features of GST are as under:

(i) The GST would be applicable on the supply of goods or services as

against the present concept of tax on the manufacture and sale of goods or
provision of services. It would be a destination based consumption tax.

(ii) It would be a dual GST with the Centre and States simultaneously levying
it on a common tax base. The GST to be levied by the Centre on intra-
State supply of goods and / or services would be called the Central GST
(CGST) and that to be levied by the States would be called the State GST
(SGST).
(iii) The GST would apply to all goods other than alcoholic liquor for human
consumption and five petroleum products, viz. petroleum crude, motor
spirit (petrol), high speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel. It
would apply to all services barring a few to be specified.
(iv) Tobacco and tobacco products would be subject to GST.
(v) The GST would replace the following taxes currently levied and
collected by the Centre:
a. Central Excise duty
b. Duties of Excise (Medicinal and Toilet Preparations)
c. Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance)
d. Additional Duties of Excise (Textiles and Textile Products)
e. Additional Duties of Customs (commonly known as CVD)
f. Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD)
g. Service Tax
h. Central Surcharges and Cesses so far as they relate to supply of
goods and services
(vi) State taxes that would be subsumed under the GST are:
a. State VAT
b. Central Sales Tax
c. Luxury Tax
d. Entry Tax (all forms)
e. Entertainment and Amusement Tax (except when levied by the
local bodies)
f. Taxes on advertisements
g. Purchase Tax

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 h. Taxes on lotteries, betting and gambling
i. State Surcharges and Cesses sofar as they relate to supply of goods
and services
(vii) The CGST and SGST would be levied at rates recommended by the GST
Council.
(viii) There would be a floor rate with a small band of rates within which the
States may fix the rates for SGST.
(ix) The list of exempted goods and services would be common for the Centre
and the States which would be finalised by GST Council.
(x) An Integrated GST (IGST) would be levied and collected by the Centre
on inter-State supply of goods and services. Accounts would be settled
periodically between the Centre and the States to ensure that the SGST
portion of IGST is transferred to the destination State where the goods or
services are eventually consumed.
(xi) Tax payers shall be allowed to take credit of taxes paid on inputs (input
tax credit) and utilize the same for payment of output tax.However, no
input tax credit on account of CGST shall be utilized towards payment of
SGST and vice versa. The credit of IGST would be permitted to be
utilized for payment of IGST, CGST and SGST in that order.
(xii) HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) code shall be used for
classifying the goods under the GST regime. It is being proposed that
taxpayers whose turnover is above Rs. 1.5 crores but below Rs. 5 crores
shall use 2 digit code and the taxpayers whose turnover is Rs. 5 crores
and above shall use 4 digit code.Taxpayers whose turnover is below Rs.
1.5 croreswillnot be required to mention HSN Code in their invoices.
(xiii) Exports shall be treated as zero-rated supply. No tax is payable on export
of goods or services but credit of the input tax related to the supply shall
be admissible to exportersand the same can be claimed as refund by them.
(xiv) Import of goods and services would be treated as inter-State supplies and
would be subject to IGST in addition to the applicable customs duties.
The IGST paid shall be available as ITC for payment of taxes on further
supplies.
(xv) The laws, regulations and procedures for levy and collection of CGST
and SGST would be harmonized to the extent possible.

IV. GST and Centre-State Financial Relations

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4. Currently, the fiscal powers between the Centre and the States are clearly
demarcated in the Constitution with almost no overlap between the respective
domains. The Centre has the powers to levy tax on the manufacture of goods
(except alcoholic liquor for human consumption, opium, narcotics etc.) while
the States have the powers to levy tax on the sale of goods. In the case of inter-
State sales, the Centre has the power to levy a tax (the Central Sales Tax) but,
the tax is collected and retained entirely by the States. As for services, it is the
Centre alone that is empowered to levy service tax.

4.1 Introduction of the GST would require amendments in the Constitution so

as to simultaneously empower the Centre and the States to levy and collect this
tax. The assignment of simultaneous jurisdiction to the Centre and the States for
the levy of GST would require a unique institutional mechanism that would
ensure that decisions about the structure, design and operation of GST are taken
jointly by the two. For it to be effective, such a mechanism also needs to have
Constitutional force.

V. Amendment of the Constitution and Other Legislative Requirements

(a) Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Second) Amendment Bill, 2014

5. To address all these and other issues, aConstitution Amendment Bill was
introduced in the Lok Sabha in December, 2014 and the Bill (122nd Amendment
Bill) has since been passed by the Lok Sabha (May, 2015). The Bill is currently
under consideration of the Rajya Sabha.The salient features of the Bill are as
under:

(i) The GST shall be levied on all goods and services except alcoholic liquor for
human consumption.

(ii) The tax shall be levied as dual GST separately by the Union and the States.

(iii) Parliament will have power to make laws with respect to GST imposed by
the Union (CGST) and the State Legislatureswill have power to make laws with
respect to GST imposed by the States (SGST).

(iv) Parliament will have exclusive power to make laws with respect to GST
where the supply of goods and/or services takes place in the course of inter-
State trade or commerce (IGST).

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(v) The Government of India (GoI) will have exclusive power to levy and
collect GST on inter-State trade or commerce.This tax shall be apportioned
between the Union and States on the recommendations of the GST Council by
Parliament by law.

(vi) Petroleum & petroleum products would be subject to GST. [However, it has
been decided that five products, viz. petroleum crude, motor spirit (petrol), high
speed diesel, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel would be kept out of the
purview of GST in the initial years of implementation]. In the case of tobacco
and tobacco products, the Centre alone would have the power to levy excise
duty in addition to the GST.

(vii) Taxes on entertainments and amusements to the extent levied and collected
by a Panchayat or a Municipality or a Regional Council or a District Council
shall not be subsumed under GST. The local bodies of States could continue to
levy such taxes.

(viii) Parliament may, by law, provide for compensation to States for revenue
loss arising out of the implementation of the GST, based on the
recommendations of the GST Council. Such compensation would be for a
period of 5 years.

(ix) A GST Council would be constituted comprising the Union Finance

Minister (who will be the Chairman of the Council), the Minister of State
(Revenue) and the State Finance/Taxation Ministers to recommend on

(a) the taxes, cesses and surcharges to be subsumed under GST;

(b) the goods and services that may be subjected to or exempted from the
GST;

(c) the date from which the specified petroleum products would be
subject to GST;

(d) model GST laws, principles of levy, apportionment of IGST and the
principles that govern the place of supply;

(e) the threshold limit of turnover below which the goods and services
may be exempted from GST;

(f) the rates including floor rates with bands of GST;

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 (g) any special rate or rates for a specified period to raise additional
resources during any natural calamity or disaster; and

(h) special provision with respect to the North-East States, J&K,

Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand.

5.1 The mechanism of GST Council would ensure some degree of

harmonization on different aspects of GST between the Centre and the States as
well as among States. It is being specifically provided that the GST Council, in
its discharge of various functions, shall be guided by the need for a harmonized
structure of GST and for the development of a harmonized national market for
goods and services.

5.2 As per the provisions of the Amendment Bill, every decision of the GST
Council shall be taken by a majority of not less than 3/4 thof the weighted votes
of the Members present and voting. The vote of the Central Government shall
have a weightage of 1/3rdof the votes cast and the votes of all the State
Governments taken together shall have a weightage of 2/3rd of the total votes
cast in the meeting. One half of the total number of members of the GST
Council shall constitute the quorum at its meetings.

5.3 The GST Council may decide about the modalities to resolve disputes
arising out of its recommendation.

6. The Constitution Amendment Bill is expected to be passed by the Rajya

Sabha in the ensuing monsoonsession of Parliament. After ratification of the
amendment bill by 50% of State Legislatures and receipt of assent by the
President, the process of enactment would be complete.

(b) Other Legislative Requirements

7. Suitable legislation for the levy of GST (Central GST Bill, Integrated
GST Bill and State GST Bills) drawing powers from the Constitution can be
introduced in Parliament or the State Legislaturesonly after the enactment of the
Constitution Amendment Bill.Unlike the Constitutional Amendment which
requires 2/3rd majority, the GST Bills would need to be passed by a simple
majority. Obviously, the levy of the tax can commence only after the GST law
has been enacted by the respective Legislatures. Also, unlike the State VAT, the
date of commencement of this levy would need to be synchronized across the
Centre and the States. This is because the IGST model cannot function
effectively unless the Centre and all the States participate simultaneously.
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VI.Work on the Various Aspects of GST: Recent Developments and Work
Ahead

(a) Model GST Law

8. The Model GST Law, jointly drafted by the tax officials of the Centre and
States, has been placed on the website of the Ministry of Finance on 14th June,
2016 for suggestions/comments.The model CGST/SGST legislation contains
178 sections spread over 27 Chapters and 4 Schedules. The draft sets out the
provisions of taxable event, taxable person, time of supply, valuation of supply
and input tax credit. The draft also deals with the various administrative and
procedural aspects of levy, such as, registration, filing of returns, assessment,
payment of tax, maintenance of accounts, refunds, audit, demands and recovery,
inspection, search, seizure and arrest, offences and penalties, prosecution,
appeals and revision, advance ruling and transitional provisions.

9. Under the GST regime, tax is payable by the taxable person on the supply
of goods and/or services. Liability to pay tax is proposed to arise when the
taxable person crosses the threshold exemption, i.e. Rs.10 lakhs(Rs. 5 lakhs for
NE States) except in certain specified cases where the taxable person is liable to
pay GST even though he has not crossed the threshold limit.The CGST / SGST
is payable on all intra-State supply of goods and/or services and IGST is
payable on all inter-State supply of goods and/or services. Intra-State supply of
goods and/or services refers to those transactions where the location of the
supplier and the place of supply are in the same State. Inter-State supply of
goods and/or services refers to those transactions where the location of the
supplier and the place of supply are in different States.The CGST /SGST and
IGST are payable at the rates specified in the Schedules to the respective Acts.

10. The draft IGST law contains 33 sections divided into 11 Chapters. The
draft, inter alia, sets out the rules for determination of the place of supply of
goods.Where the supply involves movement of goods, the place of supply shall
be the location of goods at the time at which the movement of goods terminates
for delivery to the recipient.Where the supply does not involve movement of
goods, the place of supply shall be the location of such goods at the time of
delivery to the recipient.In the case of goods assembled or installed at site, the
place of supply shall be the place of such installation or assembly.Finally, where
the goods are supplied on board a conveyance,the place of supply shall be the
location at which such goods are taken on board.

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10.1 The draft also sets out in detail the rules for determination of the
place of supply of services. As per the draft, the place of supply of services
(other than somespecified services)made to a registered person shall be the
location of such person and thatmade to an unregistered person shall be the
location of such person where the address on record exists. In other cases, i.e.
where the address on record is not available, the place of supply shall be the
location of the supplier of service.The draft law has also set out specific rules
for determining the place of supply of certain services like immovable property,
restaurant and catering, training and performance appraisal, admission to a
cultural, scientific or educational event, organization of a fair, exhibition etc.,
transportation of goods and passengers, telecommunications, banking,
insurance, advertisement and financial services.

10.2 The draft IGST law deals with the aspect of cross utilization of IGST
credit. It has been provided that on utilization of IGST credit for payment of
CGST, the Central Government shall transfer an amount equal to the credit so
utilized from the IGST account to CGST account.Likewise, on utilization of
IGST credit for payment of SGST, the Central Government shall transfer an
amount equal to the credit so utilized from the IGST account to the SGST
accountof the respective State Government.The draft provides for
apportionment of tax collected under this Act and settlement of funds.It has also
been provided that certain provisions of the CGST Act such as registration,
valuation, time of supply, exemption, ITC, audit, assessment, demands,
adjudication, refund, search, seizure and arrest, prosecution and appeals shall
apply mutatis mutandis to this Act.

11. The Model Law has been drafted keeping in view certain policy
objectives, such as, clarity in tax laws, tax laws which are easy to administer,
tax laws which are non-adversarial and tax payer-friendly, and which improves
“ease of doing business”. An attempt has been made to provide a fair dispute
resolution mechanism for tax payers under GST.The highlights of the Model
Law are as under:

Minimal interface

11.1 The physical interface between the tax payer and the tax authorities
would be minimal under GST. Certain important provisions in this regard are
illustrated as under:

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(i) Registration will be granted on line and shall be deemed to have been
granted if no deficiency is communicated to the applicant within 3 common
working daysby either of the tax administration.

(ii) Taxable person shall himself assess the taxes payable (self-assessment) and
credit it to the account of the Government. The return filed by the tax payer
would be treated as self-assessed.

(iii) Payment of tax shall be made electronically through internet banking.

Smaller taxpayers shall be allowed to use the systems generated challan and pay
tax over the bank counter.

(iv) The tax payer shall furnish the details of outward supplieselectronically
without any physical interface with the tax authorities. Inward supply details
would be auto-drafted from the supply details filed by the corresponding
suppliers.

(v) Tax payers shall file, electronically, monthly returns of outward and inward
supplies, ITC availed, tax payable, tax paid and other prescribed
particulars.Composition tax payers shall file, electronically, quarterly returns.
Omission/incorrect particulars can be self-rectifiedbefore the last date of filing
of return for the month of September of the following year or the actual date of
filing of annual return, whichever is earlier.

(vi) Matching, reversal and reclaim of input tax credit shall be done
electronically on the GSTN portal by the taxpayer himself without any
approvals from tax authorities. [This would prevent, inter alia, input tax credit
being taken on the basis of fake invoices or twice on the same invoice.]

(vii) Tax payers shall be allowed to keep and maintain accounts and other
records in electronic form.

Input tax credit

11.2 The provisions of input tax credit have been prone to litigation. The
Model GST law provides an elaborate mechanism for availment and utilization
of ITC and seeks to impart clarity with a view to minimizing disputes. The
important provisions of the law are as under:

(i) Tax payer is allowed to take credit of taxes paid on inputs (input tax credit),
as self-assessed, in his return.

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(ii) Taxpayer can take credit of taxes paid on all goods and services, other than a
few in the negative list, and utilize the same for payment of output tax.

(iii) Credit of taxes paid on inputs can be takenwhere the inputs are used for
business purposes or for making taxable supplies.

(iv) Full input tax credit shall be allowed on capital goods on its receipt as
against the current Central Government and many State Government’s
presentpractice of permitting the credit in two or three equal instalments.

(v) Unutilized input tax credit can be carried forward or can be claimed as
refund in two specified situations mentionedin para 11.3 below.

(vi) The facility of distribution of input tax credit for services amongst group
companies has been provided for through the mechanism of Input Service
Distributor (ISD).

Refund

11.3 Refund provisions have been simplified and made more taxpayer
friendly. Some of the important provisions of the Model GST Law are as under:

(i) Time limit for claiming refund has been increased from one year to two
years.

(ii) Refund claim along with documentary evidence is to be filed online without
any physical interface and the tax refund will be directly credited to the
nominated bank account of the applicant. Besides, refund of inadvertent/excess
payment can be claimed through return also.

(iii) Refund shall be granted within 90 days from the date of receipt of complete
application. Interest is payable if refund is not sanctioned within the stipulated
period of 90 days.

(iv)If the refund claim is less than Rs. 5 lakhs, there is no need for the claimant
to furnish any documentary evidence that he has not passed on the incidence of
tax to any other person. Only a self-certification to this effect would suffice.

(v) Refund of input tax credit shall be allowed in case of exports or where the
credit accumulation is on account of inverted duty structure (i.e. where the tax
rate on output is higher than that on inputs).

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(vi) In case of refund claim on account of exports, 80% of the claim shall be
paid immediately on a provisional basis without verification of documentary
evidence.

Demands

11.4 Keeping in view complaints of long delays in issuance of adjudication

orders, a new concept of sunset clause for tax disputes has been introduced. The
important provisions in this regard are as under:

(i) Adjudication order shall be issued within 3 years of filing of annual return in
normal cases.

(ii) The time limit is 5 years (from filing of annual return) in fraud/suppression
cases.

(iii) There are no separate time lines for issue of SCN and adjudication order, as
at present under Central Laws.

(iv) Provisions for settlement of cases have been made available to taxpayers at
every stage, right from audit/investigation to the stage of passing of adjudication
order and even thereafter.

(v) Penalty is Nil or minimal if the tax short paid / non-paid is deposited along
with interest at the stage of audit/investigation.

(vi) The officer shall in his order set out the relevant facts and the basis of his
decision.

(vii) The amount of tax, interest and penalty demanded in the order shall not be
in excess of the amount specified in the notice.

(viii) No demand shall be confirmed on grounds other than the grounds

specified in the notice.

Audit

11.5 The manner of conducting audit has been a sore point with the taxpayers.
In the Model GST Law, certain disciplines have been brought in, as enumerated
below, to streamline the process of audit:

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(i) It is not necessary that in all cases the tax authorities would have to visit the
place of business of the taxpayer for conducting audit. The audit can even be
conducted at the office of the tax authorities.

(ii) Tax payer shall be informed sufficiently in advance, not less than 15
working days, prior to the conduct of audit.

(iii) The audit shall be carried out in a transparent manner and completed
generally within a period of 3 months from the date of commencement of audit.

(iv) On conclusion of audit, the proper officer shall without delay notify the
taxable person of the findings, the taxable person’s rights and obligations and
reasons for the findings.

Penalty disciplines

11.6 Another area of dissatisfaction of the taxpayers has been the propensity of
the tax authorities to impose disproportionately high penalties for breaches of
law which may not be that serious. In order to address this concern, certain
general disciplines, as mentioned below, have been incorporated in the Model
GST Law:

(i) No substantial penalties shall be imposed for minor breaches of tax

regulations or procedural requirements.

(ii) No penalty shall be imposed in respect of any omission or mistake in

documentation which is easily rectifiable and obviously made without
fraudulent intent or gross negligence.

(iii) Penalty shall be commensurate with the degree and severity of the breach.

(iv) No penalty shall be imposed without issue of Show Cause Notice (SCN)
and without giving personal hearing to the concerned person.

(v) Reasoning is to be given in the order, specifying the nature of the breach and
the applicable laws or procedure.

(vi) In case of voluntary disclosure of breach, the tax authorities may consider
this fact as a potential mitigating factor when establishing a penalty for that
person.

Alternate dispute resolution mechanism

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11.7 The various modes of dispute resolution like advance ruling and
Settlement Commission have been continued under GST law. The salient
features are as under:

(i) Advance ruling can be sought in respect of more subjects than allowed at
present. The subjects are: classification of goods/or services, method of
valuation, rate of tax, admissibility of input tax credit, liability to pay tax,
liability to take registration and whether a particular transaction amounts to a
supply under GST law.

(ii) Advance ruling can be sought not only for new activities but also for
existing activities.

(iii) The facility of appeal, which is not there under the Central law, has been
provided in the Model GST Law. The applicants or the Department, if
aggrieved by the advance ruling, would henceforth get the opportunityto file an
appeal before the Appellate Authority for revision of the ruling.

(iv) The provision of Settlement Commissionhas been included in the IGST

Law.

Transitional provisions

11.8 In the Model GST law, elaborate transitional provisions have been made
to enable smooth migration of tax payers from the present regime to GST. The
important provisions in this regard are:

(i) The existing taxpayers shall be issued a certificate of registration, on

provisional basis, valid for 6 months. Upon furnishing of prescribed
information, registration shall be granted on a final basis.

(ii) The amount of Cenvat credit / VAT carried forward in a return shall be
allowed to be taken as input tax credit subject to certain conditions. Un-availed
Cenvat credit on capital goods, not carried forward in a return, shall also be
allowed as ITC subject to certain conditions.

(iii) Credit of eligible duties and taxes in respect of inputs held in stock, inputs
contained in semi –finished and finished goods held in stock shall be allowed to
a registered taxable person subject to fulfilment of certain conditions.

(iv) Credit of eligible duties and taxes in respect of inputs held in stock, inputs
contained in semi-finished and finished goods held in stock shall be allowed to

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a taxable person upon switching over from the composition scheme to the
normal scheme.

(v) No tax is payable on the goods removed/despatched earlier but returned to

the place of business within a period of 6 months after the introduction of GST.

(vi) Likewise, no tax shall be payable on the inputs, semi-finished goods and
finished goods removed/despatched earlier for job work or for carrying out
certain processes and returned to the place of business within a period of 6
months after the introduction of GST.

(vii) Pending refund claims shall be disposed of in accordance with the

provisions of earlier law and the amount of refund shall be paid to the claimant
in cash, subject to certain conditions.

(viii) Pending claim of Cenvat credit /input tax credit shall be disposed of in
accordance with the provisions of earlier law and the amount of credit shall be
paid to the claimant in cash, subject to certain conditions.

(ix) No tax shall be payable on the supply of goods and /or services made before
the introduction of GST where a part of consideration for the said supply is
received on or after the introduction of GST, but the full duty or tax payable on
such supply has already been paid under the earlier law.

(x) No tax shall be payable on the goods sent on approval basis before the
introduction of GST but which are rejected and returned to the supplier within 6
months from the introduction of GST.

Other provisions of Model GST Law

11.9 The Model Law contains several other provisions which are taxpayer
friendly and are meant for facilitating trade and industry. The provisions worth
mentioning here are:

(i) Any person can get himself registered in advance, without the liability to pay
tax, after attaining the turnover of Rs. 9 lakhs. He needs to pay tax only after
crossing the turnover of Rs. 10 lakhs.

(ii) Valuation of goods shall be done on the basis of transaction value i.e. the
invoice price, which is the current practice under the Central Excise and
Customs Laws.

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(iii) Taxpayers are allowed to issue supplementary or revised invoice in respect
of a supply made earlier.

(iv) The facility of provisional assessment to tax payers in cases where he is

unable to determine the value or rate of tax has been allowed.

(v) Taxpayers are allowed to file the details of inward and outward supplies, and
the various returns through Tax Return Preparers registered with tax
administration.

(vi) Tax payments for all months shall be made in the succeeding month. Tax
dues of March are thus to be paid in April and not March, as at present in the
Central Government and in certain States. Composition taxpayers filing
quarterly returns and thereby paying tax on a quarterly basis will be required to
pay tax in the month succeeding the quarter-end.

(vii) New modes of payment of tax are being introduced, viz. through credit and
debit cards, National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS).

(viii) The facility of job work has been continued under the GST regime.

(ix) E-Commerce companies are required to collect tax at source in relation to

any supplies made through their online platforms, under market place and
fulfilment model, at the rate notified by the Government.

(x) The Commissioner has been empowered to grant extension of time for
payment of certain tax dues or allow payment of such amount in monthly
instalments to the tax payer.

(xi) Exports shall be treated as zero rated supply. No tax is payable on exports
but credit of the input tax related to that supply shall be admissibleand the same
can be claimed as refund by them.

(xii)Provision has been made for the Government to provide remission of tax on
supplies which are found to be deficient in quantity due to any natural causes.

(xiii) A separate schedule (schedule II) has been provided to clarify certain
types of supply as either supply of goods or of services. For example,supply of
intangibles, works contract supplies, lease transactions and restaurant supplies
are categorised as supply of services. Hopefully, this would put an end to the
prevailing confusion on their tax treatment.

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(b) GST Rules and Regulations

12. Preparation of GST Rules and Regulations is another major area of work
which needs to be completed well in advance before the implementation of
GST.Rules and Regulations are being jointly drafted by the officials of the
Central and State Governments.

(c) IT preparedness

13. Putting in place a robust IT network is an absolute must for

implementation of GST. A Special Purpose Vehicle called the GSTN has been
set up to cater to the needs of GST.The GSTN shall provide a shared IT
infrastructure and services to Central and State Governments, tax payers and
other stakeholders for implementation of GST. The functions of the GSTN
would, inter alia, include: (i) facilitating registration; (ii) facilitating filing of
returns by taxpayers and forwarding the returns to Central and State authorities;
(iii) computation and settlement of IGST; (iv) matching of tax payment details
with banking network; (v) providing various MIS reports to the Central and the
State Governments based on the tax payer return information; (vi) providing
analysis of tax payers’ profile; and (vii) running the matching engine for
matching, reversal and reclaim of input tax credit.

13.1 The GSTN is developing a common GST portal and applications for
registration, payment, return and MIS/reports. The GSTN would also be
integrating the common GST portal with the existing tax administration IT
systems and would be building interfaces for tax payers. Further, the GSTN is
developing back-end modules like assessment, audit, refund, appeal etc. for 19
States and UTs (Model II States). The CBEC and Model I States (15 States) are
themselves developing their GST back-end systems. Integration of GST front-
end system with back-end systems will have to be completed and tested well in
advance for making the transition smooth.

(d) Training and Workshops

14. A detailed calendar has since been drawn up for training the Central and
State Government officers and staff on GST law, regulations and procedure.
Some 10 officers from the Central Government and 15 officers from the State
Governments have been identified as Source Trainers who would be training a
pool of around 300 Master Trainers of the Central Government/State
Governments who, in turn, would be training around 1600 Trainers drawn from

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the Central Government and State Governments. The Trainers would then train
around 70,000 Central/State Government tax officials at the field level.
Presentations and training materials are being prepared internally and also with
the help of ICAI for this purpose. Training courses would be held at the various
locations of the country.

14.1 Training of trade and industry on GST law and procedure is equally
important. It has been decided to hold seminars/workshops in 50 cities spread
across the country to prepare and educate the trade and industry on GST law,
rules, regulations and procedure. Sectoral seminars/workshops for specific
sectors such as IT, E-commerce, telecommunications and financial services are
proposed to be organised at Bangalore and Mumbai. Further, the GSTN would
be imparting training to the Master Trainerson GST IT systems who would, in
turn, be imparting training to Central/State Government officials and trade &
industry. Creating consumer awareness about the benefits of GST is also part of
the work planwhich needs to be completed before the introduction of GST.

VII. Conclusion

15. The target date for introduction of GST is 1st April 2017. Introduction of
this transformational tax reform is expected to broaden the tax base, increase tax
compliance and reduce economic distortions caused by inter-State variations in
taxes. GST will boost economic activity and will benefit everyone. It will
streamline the tax administration, avoid harassment of the business and result in
higher revenue collection for the Centre and States. Compliance costs for the
industry will go down.Last but not the least, it will create more jobs. In sum, it
would be a win-win situation for everyone i.e. taxpayers, governments,
consumers, etc.

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