What is GST? How does it work?

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.

Which taxes at the Centre and State level are being subsumed into GST?

At the Central level, the following taxes are being subsumed:

•  Central Excise Duty
• Additional Excise Duty
•  Service Tax
• Additional Customs Duty commonly known as Countervailing Duty, and
•  Special Additional Duty of Customs.

 At the State level, the following taxes are being subsumed:

• 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.

How would GST be administered in India?

Keeping in mind the federal structure of India, there will be two components of GST – Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST). Both Centre and States will simultaneously levy GST across the value chain. Tax will be levied on every supply of goods and services. Centre would levy and collect Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), and States would levy and collect the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all transactions within a State. The input tax credit of CGST would be available for discharging the CGST liability on the output at each stage. Similarly, the credit of SGST paid on inputs would be allowed for paying the SGST on output. No cross utilization of credit would be permitted.

Will cross utilization of credits between goods and services be allowed under GST regime?

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 interstate supply of goods and services under the IGST model which is explained in answer to the next question.

How will IT be used for the implementation of GST?

For the implementation of GST in the country, the Central and State Governments have jointly registered Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) as a notforprofit, nongovernment Company to provide shared IT infrastructure and services to Central and State Governments, tax payers and other stakeholders. The key objectives of GSTN are toprovide 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 stateoftheart 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 infrastructure for the administration of GST. There would no manual filing of returns. All taxes can also be paid online. All mismatched returns would be autogenerated, and there would be no need for manual interventions. Most returns would be selfassessed.

How will imports be taxed under GST?

The Additional Duty of Excise or CVD and the Special Additional Duty or SAD presently being levied on imports will be subsumed under GST. As per explanation to clause (1) of article 269A of the Constitution, IGST will be levied on all imports into the territory of India. Unlike in the present regime, the States where imported goods are consumed will now gain their share from this IGST paid on imported goods.

What are the major features of the proposed registration procedures under GST?

The major features of the proposed registration procedures under GST are as follows:

• Existing dealers: Existing VAT/Central excise/Service Tax payers will not have to apply afresh for registration under GST.
• New dealers: Single application to be filed online for registration under GST.
• The registration number will be PAN based and will serve the purpose for Centre and State.Unified application to both tax authorities.
• Each dealer to be given unique ID GSTIN.
• Deemed approval within three days.
• Post registration verification in risk based cases only.

What are the major features of the proposed payment procedures under GST?

The major features of the proposed payments procedures under GST are as follows:

• Electronic payment processno generation of paper at any stage
• Single point interface for challan generationGSTN
• Ease of payment – payment can be made through online banking, Credit Card/Debit Card, NEFT/RTGS and through cheque/cash at the bank Common challan form with autopopulation features
• Use of single challan and single payment instrument
• Common set of authorized banks
• Common Accounting Codes

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