18 sections, 2 rules for GST notified

Few days ahead of the rollout of the GST Act across India, the Union Government on 20 June 2017 notified sections in the GST Act dealing with mandatory registration of current indirect taxpayers in the new regime.

It has notified as many as 18 sections related to registration of current central excise, service tax and VAT payers with the GST-Network (GSTN) as well as transitional provisions.

As a precursor to GST, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has also notified two rules relating to registration and composition levy.

Positive Impacts of GST

All the notifications will come into effect on 22 June 2017. GST, which is to be rolled out from 1 July 2017, will unify over a dozen central and state levies into one.

Every business carrying out a taxable supply of goods or services with a turnover exceeding the threshold limit of 20 lakh rupees will be required to register.

GST registration would allow for seamless input tax credit.

The CBEC has also notified 'www.gst.gov.in' as the common 'Goods and Services Tax Electronic Portal'.
As many as 65 lakh out of the 80 lakh taxpayers have already migrated from various platforms to GST. All of these businesses will be assigned a unique Goods and Services Tax Identification Number.

The Sections in the Central GST (CGST) Act notified provide for all suppliers, anyone making any inter-state taxable supply and every existing licence holder and business entity, to register for GST.

Besides, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry and its organisations have established GST facilitation cell to facilitate the implementation of the new indirect tax regime for the stakeholders.

The cell has been constituted to serve as the first point of contact for industry to facilitate, guide and provide all support to the stakeholders for a smooth and successful rollout of GST from 1 July. Nine officers have been deployed in the cell.

Goods and Services Tax rollout deferred to 1 July 2017

In addition, the union finance minister Arun Jaitley has said that his government will not blink on rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 1 July and the new tax measure will be officially launched on midnight of 30 June 2017. Briefing to media in New Delhi, Jaitley said that the launch function will be held at the Central Hall of the Parliament.

He said there will be some challenges in the implementation of the GST, as it will unify more than a dozen separate levies to create a single market.

However, he also said this major tax reform over the medium to long term will lead to higher revenues to Centre and states while also increasing the size of the economy and having a positive impact on the GDP.

He also informed that almost all states have cleared the State GST Act, with the exception of Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala.