(GIST OF YOJANA) GST AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

(JANUARY-2024)

GST AND EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

Introduction:

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) has subsumed numerous Centra! and State levies such as Central Excise duty, Service tax,VAT, Purchase tax, Entry tax, Central Sales tax, Local body tax, Luxury tax, Octroi, etc. It has brought down the economic barriers and paved the way for an integrated economy at the national level. By mitigating the cascading effect of taxes, GST has improved the overall business environment and competitiveness in the markets with ease of doing business.

About:

Registration: GST registration is PAN based and state-specific. Any business beyond a threshold of all India aggregates annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh in the case of supply of goods (Rs 20 lakh for specified States) and Rs 20 lakh in case of supply of services (Rs 10 iakh for specified States) needs to take GST registration. Within seven days of application, the tax administration mandatorily needs to issue a GST registration certificate, subject to risk-based conditions where more time can be taken for Aadhaar-based authentication or physical verification.

Return Filing: In GST, taxpayers need to file various returns every month, e.g., GSTR-1 for outward supply, GSTR-2A/2B for inward supply, which is auto-populated, GSTR-3B for tax payment, and GSTR-9 is the annual return. All these returns are interlinked, e.g., once a taxpayer files his GSTR-1, some of the fields in his G5TR-3B, with editing facility, would be auto populated from the entries made in GSTR-1. Similarly, the inward return (GSTR-2A) is auto-populated from the GSTR-1 filed by his respective suppliers. It has eased the process of return filing by taxpayers.

E-Way Bill: It is a document required for the movement of goods, having details such as the name of the consignor, consignee, transporter, point of origin of the movement of goods, and its destination.E-invoice: E-invoicing is mandatory for registered persons whose aggregate annual turnover in any preceding financial year is more than Rs 5 crore GST invoices are reported to the ‘invoice registration portal (IRP).’ On reporting, IRP returns the digitally signed E-invoice with a unique ‘Invoice Reference Number (IRN)r with QR code. Such invoice can be issued to the receiver along with QR code.
Refund: Timely sanction of refunds is essential for the availability of working capital for expansion and modernisation of existing plants and machinery. The process of refund in GST has been envisaged as standardised, simplified, time bound, and technology-driven with minimal human interaction between the taxpayer and tax authorities.

Measures for Small Taxpayers for Supply through Electronic Commerce Operator (ECO): To facilitate small taxpayers in making supply of goods through ECOs, and to provide parity among intra-state offline and online supply of goods, a waiver of the requirement of mandatory registration up to threshold turnover with effect from 1 October 2023 has been made.
Composition taxpayers would also be allowed to make intra-state supply through ECOs, subject to certain conditions. This would open up a huge e-commerce market for small taxpayers to sell their goods without taking GST registration.
Measure for enhanced cash flow: Provision has been made to provide for the transfer of unutilised balances from the electronic cash ledger of a registered person to the electronic cash ledger of CGST and IGST of a distinct person having the same PAN. This would improve the liquidity and cash flows of such taxpayers.
Facilitation to Exporters: The requirement of reversal of ITC for exempt supply of duty credit scrip by the exporters has been done away with. Further, to facilitate exporters of electricity, amendments have been made to provide for refunds of unutilized ITC on account of the export of electricity.

Way forward:

Despite initial hiccups while adopting the new tax structure, GST is widely regarded as a paradigm shift and an enabler for ease of doing business and improved supply-chain efficiency. Reducing the compliance burden on taxpayers is a continuous effort to leapfrog to the next level of excellence in governance. There is no chasm between the intent of indirect tax reform, its implementation, and the intended effect on tax payers. There is no doubt that the GST regime has its own shortcomings, but the positives outweigh the negatives, and this, coupled with the sincere efforts of the GST Council to make it more equitable and effective, has made this reform a roaring success.