After missing several deadlines and overcoming almost a decade of political differences, Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India was finally rolled out on 1 July 2017. Undoubtedly, GST represents the biggest tax reform in the fiscal history of India. The pre-GST system of indirect taxes was marked by multiplicity of taxes and rates at the Central and State levels which resulted in a complex tax structure ridden with hidden costs for trade and industry. In sharp contrast to the earlier system, GST is an all-India unified, uniform and harmonized indirect tax system. The old system was mainly manual and opaque while the new system is technology-based and hence transparent. GST subsumed a profusion of Central and State indirect taxes to create a single unified market. In all, 8 Central and 9 State taxes/duties were abolished to pave way for the introduction of GST. The new tax is contributing to make India a seamless national market, boosting trade and industry and, in turn, economic growth. Common tax bases and common tax ratesacross goods and services and across States and between Centre and Statesare facilitating administration and improved compliance while also rendering manageable the collection of taxes on inter-State supply of goods and services. Though a game-changing fiscal innovation, GST is a complex and evolving phenomenon. It is by no means easy, particularly for the non-experts, to understand its riddles and cobwebs. The present work is an attempt to explain various aspects of GST in simple, lucid and non-technical language. It would be helpful for a cross-section of readers including teachers and students of economics, commerce, law, public administration, business management, and chartered accountancy. It will also serve the needs of legislators, business executives, policy analysts, entrepreneurs and investors, and others interested in understanding the basics of GST. The book contains 41 chapters organized into 8 parts. Part I, consisting of 5 chapters, provides conceptual clarity as regards taxation of goods and services and describes the pre-GST indirect tax system of India. Part II, comprising 5 chapters, records the efforts of the Empowered Committee (EC) of State Finance Ministers in preparing the road map for the implementation of GST; enactment of the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016; establishment, meetings and decisions of Goods and Services Tax Council (GST Council) up to the Thirty-fifth Meeting held on June 21, 2019; enactment of Central and State legislations for the roll out of GST; and the current Constitutional provisions pertaining to distribution of taxation powers between the Centre and the States. Part III, containing 6 chapters, deals with the meaning and salient features of GST; components of GST; concept of supply and the levy of GST; input tax credit (ITC); exclusions, exemptions, threshold limits of turnover, negative list and composition scheme; and rate structure of GST. Part IV, consisting of 4 chapters, spells out the provisions of GST law pertaining to certain special entities/sectors, viz. casual and non-resident taxable persons, charitable and religious trusts, real estate sector, services of goods transport agencies (GTAs) and electronic way bill (e-way bill) system. Part V, comprising 5 chapters, is devoted to implementation, administration and technological infrastructure of GST. The topics in this part include registration, tax invoice, accounts and records, returns, GST payments, tax deduction at source (TDS), tax collection at source (TCS), reverse charge mechanism (RCM), refunds, assessment, scrutiny, audit, advance ruling, appeals, offences and penalties, anti-profiteering provisions, technological infrastructure and institutional set-up for GST. Part VI, containing 7 chapters, examines the impact of GST on various macro economic aggregates and sectors of the Indian economy, namely gross domestic product (GDP), employment, industry and trade, prices, exports and imports, government revenues, and fiscal federalism. Part VII, consisting of 7 chapters, is exclusively devoted to the interaction between GST and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). It covers importance of MSMEs, exempted and nil-rated goods and services, threshold levels of turnover for goods and services, composition levy scheme, soft tax rate policy and simplified compliance procedures for MSMEs, and sector-specific concessions/reliefs for MSMEs. Part VIII has 2 chapters, one dealing with current challenges facing GST (including fraudulent transactions) and the other discussing the future of GST. Bibliography and index also form part of the book.
