Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Goods and Services Tax (GST)
GST
Dated:- 3-8-2016
Following are the answers to the various frequently asked questions relating to GST:
Question 1.What is GST? How does it work?
Answer: GST is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market.
GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer. Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition, which makes GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage. The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.
Question 2. What are the benefits of GST?
Answer:The benefits of GST can be summarized as under:
For business and industry
* Easy compliance: A robust and comprehensive IT system would be the foundation of the GST regime in India. Ther
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off of input goods and services and phasing out of Central Sales Tax (CST) would reduce the cost of locally manufactured goods and services. This will increase the competitiveness of Indian goods and services in the international market and give boost to Indian exports. The uniformity in tax rates and procedures across the country will also go a long way in reducing the compliance cost.
For Central and State Governments
* Simple and easy to administer: Multiple indirect taxes at the Central and State levels are being replaced by GST. Backed with a robust end-to-end IT system, GST would be simpler and easier to administer than all other indirect taxes of the Centre and State levied so far.
* Better controls on leakage: GST will result in better tax compliance due to a robust IT infrastructure. Due to the seamless transfer of input tax credit from one stage to another in the chain of value addition, there is an in-built mechanism in the design of GST that would incentivize tax com
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are being subsumed:
a. Central Excise Duty,
b. Additional Excise Duty,
c. Service Tax,
d. Additional Customs Duty commonly known as Countervailing Duty, and
e. Special Additional Duty of Customs.
At the State level, the following taxes are being subsumed:
a. Subsuming of State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax,
b. Entertainment Tax (other than the tax levied by the local bodies), Central Sales Tax (levied by the Centre and collected by the States),
c. Octroi and Entry tax,
d. Purchase Tax,
e. Luxury tax, and
f. Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling.
Question 4. What are the major chronological events that have led to the introduction of GST?
Answer: GST is being introduced in the country after a 13 year long journey since it was first discussed in the report of the Kelkar Task Force on indirect taxes. A brief chronology outlining the major milestones on the proposal for introduction of GST in India is as follows:
a. In 2003, the Kelkar Task Force on indirect tax had
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11. As per the prescribed procedure, the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Finance of the Parliament for examination and report.
g. Meanwhile, in pursuance of the decision taken in a meeting between the Union Finance Minister and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on 8th November, 2012, a 'Committee on GST Design', consisting of the officials of the Government of India, State Governments and the Empowered Committee was constituted.
h. This Committee did a detailed discussion on GST design including the Constitution (115th) Amendment Bill and submitted its report in January, 2013. Based on this Report, the EC recommended certain changes in the Constitution Amendment Bill in their meeting at Bhubaneswar in January 2013.
i. The Empowered Committee in the Bhubaneswar meeting also decided to constitute three committees of officers to discuss and report on various aspects of GST as follows:-
(a) Committee on Place of Supply Rules and Revenue Neutral Rates
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the Empowered Committee in March, 2014.
m. The 115th Constitutional (Amendment) Bill, 2011, for the introduction of GST introduced in the Lok Sabha in March 2011 lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
n. In June 2014, the draft Constitution Amendment Bill was sent to the Empowered Committee after approval of the new Government.
o. Based on a broad consensus reached with the Empowered Committee on the contours of the Bill, the Cabinet on 17.12.2014 approved the proposal for introduction of a Bill in the Parliament for amending the Constitution of India to facilitate the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19.12.2014, and was passed by the Lok Sabha on 06.05.2015. It was then referred to the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha, which submitted its report on 22.07.2015.
Question 5.How would GST be administered in India?
Answer : Keeping in mind the federal structure of India, there will be two component
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e below the prescribed threshold limits. Further, both would be levied on the same price or value unlike State VAT which is levied on the value of the goods inclusive of Central Excise.
A diagrammatic representation of the working of the Dual GST model within a State is shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: GST within State
Question 7. Will cross utilization of credits between goods and services be allowed under GST regime?
Answer :Cross utilization of credit of CGST between goods and services would be allowed. Similarly, the facility of cross utilization of credit will be available in case of SGST. However, the cross utilization of CGST and SGST would not be allowed except in the case of inter-State supply of goods and services under the IGST model which is explained in answer to the next question.
Question 8. How will be Inter-State Transactions of Goods and Services be taxed under GST in terms of IGST method?
Answer:In case of inter-State transactions, the Centre would levy and
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hown in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2
Question 9.How will IT be used for the implementation of GST?
Answer: For the implementation of GST in the country, the Central and State Governments have jointly registered Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) as a not-for-profit, non-Government Company to provide shared IT infrastructure and services to Central and State Governments, tax payers and other stakeholders. The key objectives of GSTN are to provide a standard and uniform interface to the taxpayers, and shared infrastructure and services to Central and State/UT governments.
GSTN is working on developing a state-of-the-art comprehensive IT infrastructure including the common GST portal providing frontend services of registration, returns and payments to all taxpayers, as well as the backend IT modules for certain States that include processing of returns, registrations, audits, assessments, appeals, etc. All States, accounting authorities, RBI and banks, are also preparing their IT infra
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x;
h. Subsuming of various Central indirect taxes and levies such as Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duties, Service Tax, Additional Customs Duty commonly known as Countervailing Duty, and Special Additional Duty of Customs;
i. Subsuming of State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax, Entertainment Tax (other than the tax levied by the local bodies), Central Sales Tax (levied by the Centre and collected by the States), Octroi and Entry tax, Purchase Tax, Luxury tax, and Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling;
j. Dispensing with the concept of 'declared goods of special importance' under the Constitution;
k. Levy of Integrated Goods and Services Tax on inter-State transactions of goods and services;
l. GST to be levied on all goods and services, except alcoholic liquor for human consumption. Petroleum and petroleum products shall be subject to the levy of GST on a later date notified on the recommendation of the Goods and Services Tax Council;
m. Compensation to the States for lo
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for Centre and State.
iv. Unified application to both tax authorities.
v. Each dealer to be given unique ID GSTIN.
vi. Deemed approval within three days.
vii. Post registration verification in risk based cases only.
Question 13. What are the major features of the proposed returns filing procedures under GST?
Answer:The major features of the proposed returns filing procedures under GST are as follows:
a. Common return would serve the purpose of both Centre and State Government.
b. There are eight forms provided for in the GST business processes for filing for returns. Most of the average tax payers would be using only four forms for filing their returns. These are return for supplies, return for purchases, monthly returns and annual return.
c. Small taxpayers: Small taxpayers who have opted composition scheme shall have to file return on quarterly basis.
d. Filing of returns shall be completely online. All taxes can also be paid online.
Question 14.What are the major
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