Value Added Tax (VAT) at the Central and the State level has been considered to be a major step – an important breakthrough – in the sphere of indirect tax reforms in India. If the VAT is a major improvement over the pre-existing Central excise duty at the national level and the sales tax system at the State level, then the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will indeed be a further significant improvement – the next logical step – towards a comprehensive indirect tax reforms in the country.
Keeping this objective in view, an announcement was made by the then Union Finance Minister in the Central Budget (2007-08) to the effect that GST would be introduced with effect from April 1, 2010 and that the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, on his request, would work with the Central Government to prepare a road map for introduction of GST in India.
In the FIRST DISCUSSION PAPER on GST, dated 10 November, 2009, EC shared Annexure of FAQs related to GST.
Question:
GST-TDS
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on GST
- What is the justification of GST?
- What is GST? How does it work?
- How can the burden of tax, in general, fall under GST?
- How will GST benefit industry, trade and agriculture?
- How will GST benefit the exporters?
- How will GST benefit the small entrepreneurs and small traders?
- How will GST benefit the common consumers?
- What are the salient features of the proposed GST model?
- Why is Dual GST required?
- How would a particular transaction of goods and services be taxed simultaneously under Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST)?
- Which Central and State taxes are proposed to be subsumed under GST?
- What is the rate structure proposed under GST?
- What is the concept of providing threshold exemption for GST?
- What is the scope of composition and compounding scheme under GST?
- How will imports be taxed under GST?
- Will cross utilization of credits between goods and services be allowed under GST regime?
- How will be Inter-State Transactions of Goods and Services be taxed under GST in terms of IGST method?
- Why does introduction of GST require a Constitutional Amendment?
- How are the legislative steps being taken for CGST and SGST?
- How will the rules for administration of CGST and SGST be framed?