Goods And Services Tax - A Report Card Of First Six Months Since Debut!!

While the GST, ever since it was implemented, has remained a topic of debate in public and private forums, the article looks at how the tax has fared for the first six months of its existence

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented in India with a premise to improve the ease of doing business, reduce overall cost of goods and services for the ultimate consumer, lessen tax compliance, enhance economic efficiency, and achieve growth and one uniform common market.

GST is India’s most comprehensive indirect tax reform since independence. It has subsumed most of the erstwhile indirect taxes, barring a few. It has remained a topic of debate in public and private forums leading to animated discussions regarding challenges posed by the unique and diverse needs of the Indian market and solutions thereof.

GST implemented in India has been a path-breaking and admirable effort. The Indian Government undoubtedly deserves the credit for bringing multilayered and several geographically defined taxpayers under one umbrella.

However, the complicated tax structure has not been easy to comprehend; also, the implementation of GST has not received much fanfare, as was expected, and it does not completely conform to the features of an ideal GST owing to India’s federal structure.

The implementation of GST has unfortunately seen apprehension about chaotic fillings of various returns and forms, high tax rates, delayed refunds, and payment of GST under the reverse charge mechanism on procurement from an unregistered dealer.

Frequent changes in the GST legislation witnessed that the new ecosystem is unsettled, and it has been widely felt by the tax community that the implementation of GST was a rushed decision, which did not achieve the various objectives for which it was introduced, and indeed, has cost the Indian economy.

Six-Month Report Card