The upcoming November 2016 is expected to be a big month for GSTN (Goods and Service Tax Network). According to a top official, the GSTN, which is expected to deliver common and shared IT infrastructure for implementation of GST will represent the details of nearly 80 lakh running assessees of excise, customs tax, service tax, and value-added tax.
Prakash Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, GSTN, stated in a PHDCCI event on Friday, “On this date (November 8), we are releasing enrolments. This means getting these existing eight million assessees on to our system. This move will help them do business without any hassle from April 1 next year, which is the likely GST implementation date.”
According to Kumar, although the assessees detail my come on board on the following day, but after that ‘What about the current running assessees?’. They are not supposed to just washed out from the board by November itself. The main objective of implementing these plans is just to bring consistency and to bring smooth transition for the implementation date of April 1.
Kumar later added, “This is going to be a challenging task and will give us a clear picture of where things stand.” GSTN is basically a non-profit entity, which had been set up in March 2013, to provide IT infrastructure and services to both Central and State governments, taxpayers and many other stakeholders for the implementation of GST. GSTN is also allowed to collaborate with other companies and agencies just for presenting an efficient and user-friendly ecosystem for GST.
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The leading software firm Infosys has signed a five-year contract to provide Managed service to GSTN. Kumar later said that in the coming days you’ll see GSTN importing the related bills and data from the CBEC (Central Board of Excessive Customs), which is supposed to be very useful for levy of iGST (GST levy on imports).
Kumar added, “In fact, an officer who was handling ICEGATE in customs has joined us as Senior Vice-President. Two officers — one handling ACES and the other handling ICEGATE — have joined us. They understand the interface better and so we have done this.”
On the other hand, Bimal Jain, Chairman of PHDCCI’s Indirect Tax Committee, reacting to the proposal for levy of cess for compensating the States said, “This was not a welcome proposal from industry’s standpoint as it will have a cascading effect. This will be the case even if such a cess is to be levied only on luxury items”
