GST council meet for decision on GST launch date

The GST council is meeting today to resolve differences between centre and states over administration powers over GST registrants.The issues that will be take up relate to –

• Some states are seeking independent control over taxpayers with revenue under Rs 1.5crore
• And states asking for equal revenue sharing (between centre and state) for taxpayers with more than Rs 1.5crore revenue
• Decision on a GST roll out date

The most critical decision is related to launch date. GST must be launched by September 16, 2017 due to a constitutional amendment. Levy of some taxes may become invalid post this date.

Our comments

Elections in some of the key states may have led to delays and deadlocks in GST council meetings. And it is likely that states may be non-committal in discussions. Political parties do not want GST decisions to impact their poll outcome.

We support FMs view on not having multiple controls (both state and centre) over taxpayers. As well as retaining levy of service tax via the centre, at least in the initial years.

We hope the government is able to make progress in today’s meeting.

Not sure how GST applies to you? Or want to understand the enrolment process?