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GST to be launched on June 30 midnight in Parliament

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das
Image result for GST to be launched on June 30 midnight in ParliamentThe new indirect tax regime — The Goods and Services Tax (GST) — will be launched at the midnight of June 30 in the Central Hall of Parliament in an hour-long event that will evoke memories of the “Tryst with Destiny” moment of 1947.
President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda will be among those who will attend the special event, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told a press conference here.
On the midnight of August 14-15, the country ushered in Independence from British rule with a special function in the Central Hall in which the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, made his now famous speech “Tryst with Destiny”.
“GST switch-over will happen from June 30 midnight. Late on June 30, a programme will be organised in the Central Hall where all Members of Parliament, state Finance Ministers, Chief Ministers and officials who assisted in (the rollout of) GST and chairpersons of the Empowered Committee will be present,” he said.
“GST will be launched exactly at midnight,” he said.
Acknowledging the role of previous governments in readying the GST, Jaitley said: “Many governments have played an important role. The UPA government announced GST in 2006 and the Constitutional amendment was introduced in 2011. GST was passed unanimously by Parliament in 2016.”
Both the President and the Prime Minister will speak on the subject and two short films on GST will be screened in the Central Hall.
So far, apart from Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir, all the states have passed the State GST (SGST) law. Jaitley said that while Kerala will pass the SGST this week, the process was still on in Kashmir.
“If any state is left out of GST, the traders and consumers both will suffer. Traders will not get any input tax credit,” he said.
Jaitley said since a two-month period relaxation had been given to traders in filing returns, businesses will get ample time to get ready for the new indirect tax system.
“In July and August, we have extended the date for filing the monthly returns. Industry and trade have to prepare themselves, it’s not a very complicated system,” he said.
“No one has any business not to be ready. Now the readiness will be determined by September 15 when the traders have to file the first return. If the trader will still not be ready, probably he doesn’t want to be ready,” he added.
Talking about the new indirect taxation system, Jaitley said that in the medium and long term, GST, being a more efficient system, will check tax evasion resulting in increase in revenues.
“States and Centre’s revenue will increase. It should have positive impact on GDP. Size of formal economy should increase. In short term, there could be some challenges. But in the long run, the number of assesses will increase,” he said.
Jaitley said till last week 65 lakh traders had registered themselves under GST.
[“Source-ndtv”]
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Online Marketing

GST refund to foreign tourists at airports on the cards

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Image result for GST refund to foreign tourists at airports on the cards

New Delhi, Jun 10 (PTI) Foreign tourists may soon get to claim GST refunds at airports at the time of exit as the revenue department is working on a mechanism to refund taxes paid by them on local purchases.

Initially, only purchases made by tourists from big retailers would be eligible for Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds at the airports when the tourist is leaving the country, an official said.

In several countries VAT or GST are refunded to the tourists for purchases made beyond a prescribed threshold.

The department is working out a mechanism which will ensure refund of GST to foreign tourists and for that the field offices have to be sensitised, the official said.

“It has to be ensured that refunds are not claimed on the basis of fake invoices. The refund mechanism could start on the basis of invoices issued by big retailers,” the official told PTI.

A provision for GST refund to tourists have been made in the GST law, but it is yet to be operational.

The law has defined the term tourist as a person not normally resident in India, who enters India for a stay of not more than six months for legitimate non-immigrant purposes.

AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said tourist refund claims are a great inbound tourism marketing technique with a low cost to the exchequer.

“Internationally, countries like Singapore and Australia have an online robust system connecting multiple refund agencies and retailers on a single platform, offering tourists a seamless and hassle-free experience while verifying, processing and disbursing the tax refunds. Matching such state-of-the-art systems could be a technological nightmare for Indian counterparts,” Mohan said.

Countries like Australia, Germany, France, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Switzerland offer VAT or GST refund to international tourists subject to certain conditions. These countries also have a threshold of the minimum amount spent for availing these tax refund advantage.

In Australia, to avail the tax benefit the minimum spend should be 300 Australian dollars (around Rs 15,000). Also, the goods have to be purchased from a single business with same Australian business number.

In case of Singapore, the norms are more relaxed and the minimum purchase amount fixed is SGD 100 (around Rs 5,000), while for Japan and Switzerland the threshold has been fixed at 5,401 yen (around Rs 3,000) and 300 Swiss francs (around Rs 20,000), respectively. PTI JD MKJ

[“Source-businesstoday”]

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News Update

Govt may offer GST refunds to foreign tourists to boost tourism

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Govt may offer GST refunds to foreign tourists to boost tourism

Singapore, Australia, Canada – these are just some of the countries that have implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST) and offer overseas visitors tax refunds at their international airports as they head back home. India, too, may soon follow suit. The revenue department is working on a mechanism to refund GST paid by foreign tourists on local purchases, which will allow them to claim the refunds at airports when they are leaving the country. According to an official, in order to do that, the field offices will have to be sensitized first. So, initially, only purchases from big retailers would be eligible for GST refunds. “It has to be ensured that refunds are not claimed on the basis of fake invoices. The refund mechanism could start on the basis of invoices issued by big retailers,” the official explained, as mentioned in agency reports.

Although a provision for GST refund to tourists has been made in the GST law, it is yet to be operational. The law has defined the term ‘tourist’ as a person who’s not normally a resident in India, who enters the country for a stay of not more than six months for legitimate non-immigrant purposes.

According to AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan, tourist refund claims are a great inbound tourism marketing technique with a low cost to the exchequer. “Internationally, countries like Singapore and Australia have an online robust system connecting multiple refund agencies and retailers on a single platform, offering tourists a seamless and hassle-free experience while verifying, processing and disbursing the tax refunds. Matching such state-of-the-art systems could be a technological nightmare for Indian counterparts,” he added, as mentioned in the agency report.

Countries like Australia, Germany, France, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Switzerland offer VAT or GST refund to international tourists for purchases made beyond a prescribed threshold and subject to other conditions . For instance, in Australia, if you want to avail the tax benefit, your minimum spend should be AUD 300 (around Rs 15,000). Also, the goods have to be purchased from a single business with same Australian business number.

The norms are more relaxed in Singapore and the minimum purchase amount fixed is SGD 100 (around Rs 5,000), while for Japan and Switzerland the threshold has been fixed at 5,401 yen (around Rs 3,000) and 300 Swiss francs (around Rs 20,000), respectively.

[“Source-businesstoday”]

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