Goods And Services Tax (GST): A Comprehensive and Uniform Indirect Tax Reform in India

Abstract

Overcoming the loopholes in the existing indirect tax regime, Goods and services tax (GST) is a major indirect tax reform in India. India is very close to its implementation, tentatively from 1 July 2017 as announced by Sri Arun Jaitely, the current Finance Minister. Goods and services tax (GST) is a nationwide tax levied on supply of goods and services in India. It is a destination based value added tax levied at each stage in supply chain right from the manufacturer to the consumer with benefit of input tax credit at each stage thereby eliminating cascading effects. The final consumer thus will bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain. The proposed GST regime is expected to bring a basket of benefits for the entire economy thereby favouring its implementation at the earliest by overcoming all the challenges. Proper planning, administration, timely guidance to the industry and training to both the tax officers and payers on GST will aid its smooth implementation.