Not April, GST set for July 1 rollout

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16

The Centre and states today reached a consensus on sharing powers over the dual control of taxpayers under the Goods and Services Tax (GST), but the rollout of the new regime was deferred from April 1 to July 1.

The ninth meeting of the decision-making body GST Council today agreed upon the states having powers to assess and administer 90 per cent of the taxpayers with annual turnover under Rs 1.5 crore while the remaining 10 per cent would be controlled by the Centre.

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The taxpayers with a turnover above Rs 1.5 crore would be controlled in a 50:50 ratio by the states and the Centre even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley insisted that each taxpayer would be assessed only once and by a single authority.

Jaitley said the states would also have the powers to levy tax on economic activity within 12 nautical miles of territorial waters even though such rights were constitutionally vested with the Centre. He said the power to levy and collect Integrated-GST, a tax on inter-state movement of goods and services, would lie with the Centre but by special provisions in law, states would also be cross-empowered. 

The Finance Minister said the council would meet on February 18 to approve the drafts of IGST law and other supporting legislations needed for subsuming central and state levies like excise duty and service and VAT.  Jaitley said that GST now looked more realistically possible from July 1 instead of April 1.

Rajeev Dimri, leader, Indirect Tax, BMR & Associates, said by reaching a consensus on the contentious issue of dual control, the council had taken a significant step towards the implementation of the GST. Administrative control with a single authority (either Centre or state) would ensure ease of compliances and assessment for the assesses, he added.