Welcome To The GST Regime

GST is here but so are doubts, confusion and ambiguity. Only time will tell how it eliminates the pain points and fuels the GDP growth

- Onkar Sharma

The new tax regime is here and has become reality. We saw it on July 1, 2017 at the storke of midnight when the Indian Parliament was all awake to celebrate the onset of the new taxation policy. But doubts, confusion and ambiguity continues to hang on in everybody’s mind. As we step into the new tax regime – GST (Goods and Services Tax), it is important to note that businesses will no longer be the same. With technology as the backbone, GST is aimed at bringing transparency, reduce leakages and rationalize the indirect tax system.

GST has cast its spell on everyone—buyers, sellers and resellers of goods. It has begun to fetch in all traders, baniyas, dukaandaars and kiryanawallahs, among others into the taxation system—something which never happened in this country. The tax filing is going to be online and compulsory. It is believed that the pilferages in the tax filing would be eliminated. But only time will tell.

While GST is a transformative move for buyers and sellers, it will not be easy to adjust to the change immediately. It is going to take its course. A volley of pain points is set to emerge in the first few months. The government realizes this and has announced that it would be a little lax in the first three months for tax filings. But it would be strict after that and keep a constant watch on the filings. Perhaps this is the reason why many of the enterprises have embarked upon to the compliance drive and added GST functionality to their existing systems. Many top organizations have revamped their IT applications or adopted the GST-ready ones to insure that their business is not affected in the new regime.