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.
Benefits of GST
For business and industry
Easy compliance:- A robust and comprehensive IT system would be the foundation of the GST regime in
India. Therefore, all tax payer services such as registrations, returns, payments, etc. would be
available to the taxpayers online, which would make compliance easy and transparent.
Uniformity of tax rates and structures:- GST will ensure that indirect tax rates and structures are common
across the country, thereby increasing certainty and ease of doing business. In other words, GST would
make doing business in the country tax neutral, irrespective of the choice of place of doing business.
Removal of cascading:- A system of seamless tax-credits throughout the value-chain, and across boundaries of States, would ensure that there is minimal cascading of taxes. This would reduce hidden costs of doing
business.
Improved competitiveness:- Reduction in transaction costs of doing business would eventually lead to an
improved competitiveness for the trade and industry.
Gain to manufacturers and exporters:- The subsuming of major Central and State taxes in GST, complete and comprehensive set-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 inbuilt mechanism in the design of GST that would incentivize tax compliance by traders.
Higher revenue efficiency:- GST is expected to decrease the cost of collection of tax revenues of the Government, and will therefore, lead to higher revenue efficiency.
For the consumer
Single and transparent tax proportionate to the value of goods and services:- Due to multiple indirect taxes being levied by the Centre and State, with incomplete or no input tax credits available at progressive stages of value addition, the cost of most goods and services in the country today are laden with many hidden taxes. Under GST, there would be only one tax from the manufacturer to the consumer, leading to transparency of taxes paid to the final consumer.
Relief in overall tax burden:- Because of efficiency gains and prevention of leakages, the overall tax burden on most commodities will come down, which will benefit consumers.
Type of Tax Subsummed in GST
At the Central level, the following taxes 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.
GST administration in 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.
Taxation Treatment of a a particular transaction of goods and services be taxed simultaneously under Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST)
The Central GST and the State GST would be levied simultaneously on every transaction of supply of goods and services except on exempted goods and services, goods which are outside the purview of GST and the transactions which are 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.
Taxayion Treatment of Inter-State Transactions of Goods and Services
In case of inter-State transactions, the Centre would levy and collect the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on all inter-State supplies of goods and services under Article 269A (1) of the Constitution. The IGST would roughly be equal to CGST plus SGST. The IGST mechanism has been designed to ensure seamless flow of input tax credit from one State to another. The inter-State seller would pay IGST on the sale of his goods to the Central Government after adjusting credit of IGST, CGST and SGST on his purchases (in that order). The exporting State will transfer to the Centre the credit of SGST used in payment of IGST. The importing dealer will claim credit of IGST while discharging his output tax liability (both CGST and SGST) in his own State. The Centre will transfer to the importing State the credit of IGST used in payment of
SGST. Since GST is a destination-based tax, all SGST on the final product will ordinarily accrue to the consuming State.
Cross utilization of credits between goods and services
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.
Taxation of Imports 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.
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