The Good Bad And Ugly Side Of GST

A bumpy road lies ahead of GST before it sets out on its right course.

- Dipak Kumar Mondal

Hasmukh Adhia, revenue secretary and the government’s go-to man on the country’s biggest tax reform – the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – has been fighting a battle on multiple fronts. Over the past few months he has been busy giving finishing touches to the rules of the new law, attending GST Council meetings, clarifying the nitty-gritty of the law to stakeholders while at the same time overseeing the tax department’s preparations ahead of the GST roll-out.

Now that GST has been rolled out, Adhia’s latest battle is against “misinformation (about GST) deliberately spread by people with a vested interest”. When Business Today asked him what is the biggest challenge after the launch of GST, he was quick to point out the ‘information gap’ that was still very much there.

“We would like our machinery to be available all the time for removing this information gap,” said Adhia in his characteristic composed demeanour. “We have asked all central and state government tax officers to convert their offices into GST facilitation cells. The officers would welcome all assessees who can walk in, ask questions and satisfy their queries.” Adhia admits fighting misinformation is the main work for the department for the next one month since nobody has to file returns this month.

True to his word, two days after the launch of GST, the revenue secretary took to Twitter to ‘bust seven GST myths’ which included the inability to generate invoices without internet, filing of three returns every month, filing of invoice-wise details by even small dealers in the return, high GST rates compared to earlier VAT, etc. It’s not just the information gap. The government and the tax department are also fighting misinformation and rumours about GST. Social media is replete with all kinds of unverified information and even jokes about GST.