Page 12 - Banking Finance February 2018

GST UPDATE

GST policy wings asks sup- E-way bill system launched
9 states and one Union territory have rolled out the e-way bill system under the
pliers to record details of goods and services tax from February 2018. Industry
supplies to UN bodies executives are concerned that the e-way bill system, an

The Goods and Services Tax Policy electronic way of tracking the movement of goods, may
Wing has said give tax authorities in the states powers to harass busi-
that the sup- nesses in case of small instances of non-compliance even
pliers should though it was designed to eliminate state-wise docu-
not decline to mentation and ensure faster transit of goods by doing away with checkposts at
record the state borders.
Unique Identity Number of Diplomats, The central and state tax authorities decided to move ahead with the measure,
Diplomatic Missions and UN suspecting massive tax evasion under the new indirect tax regime that was imple-
Organisations on tax invoice. "Sale or mented from 1 July.
supply to Foreign Diplomatic Missions
/ UN Organisations is like any other Tax department to reach out to non filers of return
business to consumer sale and will not The tax department has directed its field offices to reach out to businesses that
have any additional effect on the have not filed returns under the GST but were paying
supplier's tax liability," the Finance taxes in the erstwhile service tax/VAT regime.
Ministry said, after many representa-
tions on the issue. This will only help The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has
the foreign and international bodies shared the zone-wise data of businesses under the
to claim refund for taxes paid in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) with regional commission-
the Ministry said. ers to handhold them in case they are facing difficulty
while filing returns under the new indirect tax regime.
Plastics Industry ap- "Field offices know which businesses used to file tax in the earlier regime. Now
plauds GST rate reduction we have shared with them the initial GSTR-3B return data to match if anyone
The plastics industry has applauded who is eligible for paying taxes in the new regime is left out," an official said.
the reduction
in GST rates States are not in favour of petrol, diesel inclusion into GST
across the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the states are not in favour of including petrol
spectrum of and diesel into GST at the moment, ruling out any immedi-
products from ate levy of the new indirect tax on these petroleum products.
28 percent to 18 percent, saying it While GST was rolled out on July 1, real estate as well as crude
will benefit end- consumers and oil, jet fuel or ATF, natural gas, diesel and petrol were kept
would keep manufacturers competi- out of its purview. This meant that the products continued to
tive in the domestic market.
attract duties like central excise and VAT.
The move would help in reduction of "So far the mood of states (most of the states) is not in favour of including it (in
price on products such as plastics
GST) at the moment. But I am sure as the GST experience moves on, I think,
floorings, fabrics, furniture, vacuum natural gas, real estate -- these are areas which are to be brought in and then
flasks bath and sanitary fittings and probably at some stage we will keep trying for petrol, diesel and potable alco-
many other miscellaneous plastics hol," Jaitley said.
products, Plastindia Foundation, the
apex body of the industry, said. The five petroleum items have been kept out of GST as they are considered cash
cows, giving both the Centre and states bulk of their tax revenues. But keeping
The industry is one of the biggest ben- them out has created compliance issues including taking input tax credit. For
eficiaries of the GST rationalisation of example, a refinery producing diesel and petrol would pay GST on the procure-
GST slabs announced recently by the ment of plant, machinery and services but that tax would not be creditable
government, it added. against excise duty and VAT levied on petrol and diesel.

12 | 2018 | FEBRUARY | BANKING FINANCE

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