"MIGRATING TO GST" ORGANISED BY FIEO LUDHIANA

GST IMPLEMENTATION WILL SIMPLIFY THINGS : CA Vishal Garg, Past Chairman, Northern India Regional Council of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)
Ludhiana, January 25, 2017: FIEO Ludhiana Chapter organised a session on "Migrating to Goods & Services Tax (GST)". The purpose the session was to address and clarify several relevant queries related to the new Goods & Services Tax (GST) regime, which will be soon implemented as the Constitution Amendment Bill for Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been approved by the President of India, post its passage in the Parliament last year and how the individual business practices should be prepared and aligned before final implementation, so that the transition and migration process to GST becomes smoother and easier. Mr. (CA) Vishal Garg, Past Chairman, Northern India Regional Council of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India conducted the session.

While addressing the participants Mr Vishal Garg said that, "with GST, it is anticipated that the tax base will be comprehensive, as virtually all goods and services will be taxable, with minimum exemptions. GST will be a game changing reform for the Indian economy by creating a common Indian market and reducing the cascading effect of tax on the cost of goods and services. The GST will be the biggest reform in India’s indirect tax structure since the economy began to be opened up 25 years ago. It will impact the tax structure, tax incidence, tax computation, tax payment, compliance, credit utilization etc leading to a complete overhaul of the current indirect tax system. Also the current taxation system of our country is very much complex as compared to other countries. Factors like Tax on Tax , Multi taxes on same transaction, differentiation in classification, Complex and lack in stability, Hidden tax on exports, no State Tax on imports, High Transaction costs etc adds to its complexity. There are nearly 160 countries where the GST systems is already implemented with variation on rate or percentage of tax, which depends upon certain factors varies from country to country".

He also added that, "the GST after it gets implemented will replace 17 indirect tax levies, compliance costs will fall , the Revenue will get a boost as evasion set to drop , Input tax credit will encourage suppliers to pay taxes, States and Centre will have dual oversight , will also help in developing a common market , which is currently fragmented along state lines, pushing costs up 20-30% . For many capital goods, input tax credit is not available. Full input tax credit under GST will mean a 12-14% drop in the cost of capital goods. Above all the GST will simplify things to make life easier".

While sharing his views Mr S C Ralhan, National President, FIEO, said that “Being the biggest economic reform of modern India, the implementation of GST will surely boost Indian economy further. The business both the manufacturing as well as services sector will be get benefited as the tax system will become simpler".

The session received a positive response as more than 60 senior level representatives from prominent industries attended the session.