GST Council clears bulk of rules for new tax regime

 The GST Council cleared the bulk of the rules framework that constitutes the nuts and bolts of the goods and services tax regime, days after the Lok Sabha approved crucial laws related to it. The quick decision by the GST Council on Friday brightens the chances of the new tax being rolled out from July 1 though industry has stepped up the demand for a September 1start to give it more time for preparation.

The council will take up on May 18-19 the last big remaining task of fitting individual goods into the four tax slabs already decided. The council approved five rules dealing with registration, refunds, returns, invoice-debit and credit note payments that have been amended in line with changes to the GST laws. "Draft rules for input tax credit, valuation, transition and composition scheme have been approved by the council," finance minister Arun Jaitley said after the meeting. These drafts will be made public so that industry can give inputs and the final draft will be up for approval at the next council meeting to be held on May 18-19 in Srinagar. The Lok Sabha had on March 29 approved the four GST laws — central GST, integrated-GST, union territory - GST and compensation.

These now have to be approved by the Rajya Sabha, which should not pose a problem as these are Money Bills. The next meeting will also take up the crucial issue of deciding the slabs that goods and services will be slotted into. The council has finalised a four-tier tax structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, but the highest rate has been pegged at 40%. With the next council meeting more than a month away, achieving the deadline may be difficult, experts said.

"Given the fact that the council is meeting next on May 18-19 to finalise these rules and rates would be finalised thereafter, implementing GST from July 1may be extremely difficult for the government," said Pratik Jain, indirect tax leader, PwC. "One could expect that the voices for September 1 implementation would get stronger over the next few days." MS Mani, senior director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, concurred with Jain. "Today's announcement of the draft rules together with the GST legislations approved two days back gives businesses a very short window of three months to prepare," he said. "Since the rates would be known only by end of May, a process-based systematic approach by businesses is the need of the hour."

(Economic Times)

GST Council to decide on rates in May

 The goods and services tax (GST) Council on Friday cleared rules on five aspects of the new indirect tax regime and tentatively approved four sets of norms. This follows the clearing of the GST Bills by the Lok Sabha and the focus shifting to rules and the fitment of rates.
The Council´s next meeting on May 18 and 19 in Srinagar will take up the four sets of norms (tentatively approved on Friday) and item wise rates. This will leave six weeks for businesses to prepare for these changes before the planned rollout on July 1. The five sets of rules the Council cleared are on registration, returns, payment, refunds and invoices. They were approved earlier, too, but were changed in bits and pieces to bring them in sync with the four Bills cleared by the Lok Sabha.
The latter will be discussed and passed in the Rajya Sabha when Parliament reconvenes on Wednesday, after a short break. The other four it approved were with regard to input tax credit, valuation, transitional provisions and composition, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters. They will be put in the public domain for suggestions for them to be taken up at the next meeting in May. The Council will consider the fitment of items in the five slabs —zero, five per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent and 28 per cent.
 ´Sin´ and luxury products such as tobacco, cigarettes, coal, luxury cars and aerated drinks will attract a cess over the peak rate of 28 percent. The issue is if the fitment of rates and the four sets of rules are settled by May 19, businesses get one and a half months to prepare for these changes. If these are delayed, they are left with even less time. However, an official in the finance ministry said the rate fitment would largely be a mechanical exercise.
This means the items will attract the GST rates that correspond roughly to the present indirect tax incidence. Even so, rules on input tax credit and transition are relevant and these might be cleared only in the next Council meeting. Also important are rules on valuation. Businesses want to know what happens to their interbranch transfers. Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said: “We must not delay the GST rollout.”
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia agreed. “We are all ready for July 1,” he said. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said once the Bills got the presidential assent and were notified, the legislative assemblies of states would need to pass their state GST Bills soon after, preferably by calling a special session.
In the Rajya Sabha, Opposition parties, particularly the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left, have indicated they might move amendments to the Central GST and Integrated GST Bills. They are saying the existing Bills have made the GST Council superior to Parliament, as the government would go by the Council´s recommendations on setting the rates. However, the GST Bills are money Bills. This means the Lok Sabha can reject any amendments the Rajya Sabha might adopt.

(Business Standard)