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GST is a consumption based tax levied on sale, manufacture and consumption on goods & services at a national level. This tax will be substitute for all indirect tax levied by state and central government. Exports and direct tax like income tax, corporate tax and capital gain tax will not be affected by GST. GST would apply to all goods other than crude petroleum, motor spirit, diesel, aviation turbine fuel and natural gas. It would apply to all services barring a few to be specified. With the increase of international trade in services, GST has become a global standard. The proposed tax system will take the form of “dual GST” which is concurrently levied by central and state government.

This will comprise of:

  • Central GST (CGST) which will be levied by Centre
  • State GST (SGST) Which will be levied by State
  • Integrated GST (IGST) – which will be levied by Central Government on inter-State supply of goods and services.

GST is a tax that we need to pay on supply of goods & services. Any person, who is providing or supplying goods and services, is liable to charge GST.

 

Following are the benefits of GST

1. Easier tax compliance - instead of having to deal with many different taxation laws and spending a lot of time in legal advise and compliance, businesses will now need to pay GST only. This is a big relief and it creates simplicity and predictability in business.

2. The GST is being introduced to create a common market across states, not only to avoid enfeebled effect of indirect tax but also to improve tax compliance.

3. GST will lead a more transparent and neutral manner to raise revenue.

4. Price reduction as credit of input tax is available against output tax.

5. Simplified and cost saving system as procedural cost reduces due to uniform accounting for all types of taxes. Only three accounts; CGST, SGST, IGST have to be maintained.

6. GST is structured to simplify the current indirect system. It is a long term strategy leading to a higher output, more employment opportunities, and economic boom.

7. GST is beneficial for both economy and corporations. The reduced tax burden on companies will reduce production cost making exporters more competitive.

8. There is no doubt that in production and distribution of goods, services are increasingly used or consumed and vice versa. Separate taxes for goods and services, which is the present taxation system, requires division of transaction values into value of goods and services for taxation, leading to greater complications, administration, including compliances costs. In the GST system, when all the taxes are integrated, it would make possible the taxation burden to be split equitably between manufacturing and services.

9. GST will be levied only at the final destination of consumption based on VAT principle and not at various points (from manufacturing to retail outlets). This will help in removing economic distortions and bring about development of a common national market.

10. It will also help to build a transparent and corruption-free tax administration. Presently, a tax is levied on when a finished product moves out from a factory, which is paid by the manufacturer, and it is again levied at the retail outlet when sold.

11. The tax structure will be made lean and simple

12. The entire Indian market will be a unified market which may translate into lower business costs. It can facilitate seamless movement of goods across states and reduce the transaction costs of businesses.

13. It is good for export oriented businesses. Because it is not applied for goods/services which are exported out of India.

14. In the long run, the lower tax burden could translate into lower prices on goods for consumers.

15. The Suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are able to recover GST incurred on input costs as tax credits. This reduces the cost of doing business, thus enabling fairer prices for consumers.

16. It can bring more transparency and better compliance.

17. Less corruption - Number of departments will reduce which in turn may lead to less corruption

18. More business entities will come under the tax system thus widening the tax base. This may lead to better and more tax revenue collections.

19. Companies which are under unorganized sector will come under tax regime.

20. Reduced tax evasion - the difference between present system and GST is that the present system gave an incentive to evade taxes (because excise duty was a cost for traders, thereby making it attractive for them to purchase without invoice). With GST, this incentive will vanish. Therefore, tax evasion will fall.

21. More money to poor states - present taxation system was origin based, so tax collection used to go to manufacturing heavy states (Tamil Nadu, Gujarat etc.) Now, the tax collection of poor states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh etc) will also rise. This gives an opportunity for all the poor states to develop.

22.Tax bias for location will go - many businesses create depots and godowns in different states simply because there is a difference in tax rates. Now that GST will come, this difference between states will vanish. It would help to remove the tax difference as a bias, thereby helping businesses.