GST Laws – salient Features

Prabhakar K S*

Before getting in to the specific features of Indian Goods and Services Tax (GST) Laws, it is necessary to know that in India, indirect taxes are levied by both the Centre and the States. Indirect Taxes constitute a major source of revenue for both the Centre and the States. Therefore, it is necessary to compensate adequately both the Centre and the States.

The structure of the Indian GST Laws is that of “Dual Tax” i.e. a combination of two taxes, one of the State GST (SGST) and other of the Centre GST (CGST).

Major Acts

The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

The Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

The State Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

The Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017

The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017

Salient Features

1. Levy of Tax:

The State GST (SGST) and Central GST (CGST) shall be levied on all the transactions of goods and services, concurrently.

2. Utilization of Levy:

Levies from State GST (SGST) & Central GST (CGST) shall form part of State and the Centre respectively and no cross-utilization shall be allowed.

3. Availability of Tax Credit:

In respect of taxes paid on any supply of goods or services or both used or intended to be used in the course business.

4. Destination based Tax:

The GST is a destination based tax on consumption of Goods and Services. Hence the credit of SGST shall be transferred to the Destination State in the form of Integrated GST (IGST). IGST will be imposed on all Inter-State Transactions.

5. Assessment :

Registered person will be allowed himself to assess the taxes payable under the GST Laws and furnish a return for each Tax Period.

6. Threshold Limit:

There shall be a taxable limit (presently,  `. 10 Lakhs in North Eastern States & `. 20 Lakhs in  rest of the county)

7. Composition Scheme

The GST Laws will provide a composition scheme for small dealers (presently, turnover of `. 75 Lakhs).

8. GSTIN or GST Identification Number

Every registrants or dealers ( including Exporters and Importers) shall be given a PAN based TIN number which shall be a common to the both the State GST and Central GST.

9. Compensation to States

The GST Laws provides for payment of compensation to the States for loss of revenue, if any, arising out of implementing of the Goods and Services Tax for a period of 5 years.

10. The GST Council

The Council is a quasi – judicial body of States and the Centre,  represented by the State Finance Ministers  or Taxation Ministers and the Finance Minister of India. The key role of this Council is to make recommendations on various provisions of GST Laws to the State and the Centre.

11. Anti-Profiteering Measures –

It is expected the GST Laws will bring down the prices of goods and services once implemented. To ensure the pass of such benefits to end users or the customers, the government has put anti-profiteering measures.

12. Transition

Elaborate ‘Transitions Provisions” for smooth transition of existing tax payers to new Indirect Tax Regime provided.

It is expected that the GST Laws or new indirect tax regime, brings benefits to all the stakeholders viz. industry, government and the citizens. Further, lower the cost of goods and services, boost the economy and make our products and services globally competitive.