In a federal country like India where the power to tax domestic trade is divided between the Central Government and the State Government, the designing of a destination based GST becomes extremely complicated. A conventional national GST cannot be implemented without the States losing their fiscal autonomy.
‘Service Tax Case Digest’, a two volume book on service tax by Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal , a city based chartered accountant and service tax practitioner, was launched on 18.01.2016 at New Delhi by Justice ‘G’ Raghuram, President of Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), New Delhi. The release function was attended by all […]
Additional tax is an additional tax levy whereby states will be allowed to collect tax of one percent over and above the normal GST for the goods that enter the state. This is imposable for a maximum period of two years.
In the proposed GST regime, the revenue of the Government would not be the same in comparison with the present tax structure due to tax credit mechanism or otherwise. Therefore, an adjustment in tax rate is required to avoid reduction in revenue of the Government. Hence, the rate of tax will have to be suitably adjusted to ensure that tax revenue does not reduce. This rate is termed as ‘Revenue Neutral rate’ (RNR). It is the rate at which tax revenue remains the same despite giving credit of duty paid on inputs and other factors.
(i) Share of revenue from such commodities, which would be kept outside the GST structure, e.g., petroleum products, tobacco, liquor, etc. However, Central Govt. can charge excise duty on tobacco products over and above GST. (ii)Number of taxes to be subsumed in the GST, for example stamp duty, property tax, toll tax, etc. might be kept outside the GST structure.
Base on First Discussion Paper on GST, despite the success with VAT, there are still certain shortcomings in the structure of VAT both at the Central and at the State level. The shortcoming in CENVAT of the Government of India lies in non-inclusion of several Central taxes in the overall framework of CENVAT, such as additional customs duty, surcharges, etc., and thus keeping the benefits of comprehensive input tax and service tax set-off out of reach for manufacturers/ dealers.
The Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 which is now pending in Rajya Sabha for passage faces challenge from main opposition party, Indian National Congress. It mainly wants the GST rate capped at 18 percent in the Amendment itself, removal of additional one percent tax for the manufacturing states (Gujarat, Maharashtra etc) and an independent dispute redressal mechanism.
The broad framework of GST model proposed for India now being clear, well-designed and well-functioning Information Technology (IT) infrastructure facility would be a precondition and pre-requisite for smooth administration of taxpayers, processing of returns, controlling collections, making refunds, auditing taxpayers, levying penalties etc. in the new regime.
Whether Cenvat Credit of the SBC is available? SBC is not integrated in the Cenvat Credit Chain. Therefore, credit of SBC cannot be availed. Further, SBC cannot be paid by utilizing credit of any other duty or tax.
When Finance Act, 2015 was enacted, rate of Service Tax was enhanced from 12% to 14% and both education cesses subsumed in the enhanced rate of Service Tax. Alongwith, a new cess called Swachh Bharat Cess (SBC) was legislated but its levy was deferred due to political reasons.
