While exhibiting the Union Budget 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Today said the government is ready for implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and will start reaching out to the industry very shortly by April 1 to spread awareness about the GST regime.
However, Jaitley did not mentioned the exact date of the GST implementation across the country.
“GST Council has finalised recommendations on all issues, the preparedness of IT is on schedule. On April 1, the reaching out to the industry will begin to make them aware of the new tax system, as per schedule,” the Finance Minister said.
“Preparatory work on GST is top priority of the government. Several teams of the Centre and states are working towards it,” he added.
He also said he didn’t make many changes in the excise and customs as they will be soon ousted by GST. He further said the implementation of GST will lead to the growth of revenues in the states and centre.
The earlier deadline for the GST rollout was April 1, now the Finance Minister had hinted that July 1, 2017, could be the best time for the implementation. Notedly the GST Council resolved all its pending issues on January 16 at the 9th meeting.
The centre and the states mutually agreed over the 50:50 dual control under the new GST regime.