A:

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a tax on the supply of goods and services. It is essentially a tax on the value addition at each stage and a supplier at each stage is permitted to claim set-off, through an input tax credit mechanism i.e. the tax paid on the purchase of goods and services is available for set-off against the tax to be paid on further supply of goods and services. The Act, Rules and the rate of GST across all Indian states including union territories are uniforms.

A:

GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer. Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition, which makes GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage. The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.

A:

GST in India is based on the ‘dual GST’ model wherein both the central and state governments simultaneously tax all transactions within a particular state involving the supply of goods and services under CGST Act and SGST Act, respectively. These taxes are deposited by the taxpayers electronically and go directly into the respective government’s CGST/SGST accounts. Under the earlier regime, the powers to tax services and manufacturing transactions were with the central government whereas the power to tax sale transactions was with state governments exclusively.

A:

At the Central level, the following taxes are being subsumed: 1. Central Excise Duty, 2. Additional Excise Duty, 3. Service Tax, 4. Additional Customs Duty is commonly known as Countervailing Duty, and 5. Special Additional Duty of Customs. At the State level, the following taxes are being subsumed: 1. Subsuming of State Value Added Tax/Sales Tax, 2. Entertainment Tax (other than the tax levied by the local bodies), Central Sales Tax (levied by the Centre and collected by the States), 3. Octroi and Entry tax, 4. Purchase Tax, 5. Luxury tax, and 6. Taxes on lottery, betting, and gambling.

A:

Goods/sectors that are out of the GST ambit include alcohol and specified petroleum products i.e. petroleum crude, high speed diesel, motor spirit, aviation turbine fuel and natural gas. Petroleum products are likely to be inducted into GST at a later date. Alcohol for human consumption continues to attract state excise duty and VAT. Tobacco and tobacco-based products attract both excise duty and GST. Taxes such as stamp duty, toll tax, road tax, electricity duty etc. are not part of GST.

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The rate structure consists of four slabs i.e. 5, 12, 18, and 28 percent, GST compensation cess on selected goods besides goods which are taxed at nil rate (fully exempt). GST tariff should be referred to, to know tax rate for respective goods and services.

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The minimum threshold is INR2 million of aggregate turnover in a financial year. However, in certain states the limit is reduced to INR1 million. Composition scheme is available for turnovers up to INR15 million and rate of tax is as specified under Section 10 of the CGST Act. Section 23 of the CGST Act specifies persons who are not required to be registered (e.g. a farmer, a person having wholly exempt turnover, etc.) Section 24 of the CGST Act specifies persons who are required to register irrespective of the turnover (e.g. persons making interstate supply, casual taxable persons, non-resident taxable persons, etc.)

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It is the point when the liability to charge GST arises. It indicates the time when the supply (taxable event) is deemed to have been made.

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Exports are zero-rated under GST which means that there shall not be taxed and input taxes will be refunded.

A:

The major features of the proposed registration procedures under GST are as follows: 1.Existing dealers: Existing VAT/Central excise/Service Taxpayers will not have to apply afresh for registration under GST. 2.New dealers: Single application to be filed online for registration under GST. The registration number will be PAN-based and will serve the purpose for Centre and State. 1. Unified application to both tax authorities. 2. Each dealer to be given a unique ID GSTIN. 3. Deemed approval within three days. Post-registration verification in risk-based cases only.