Union Cabinet approved amendments to existing Acts to facilitate implementation of GST

The Union Cabinet gave its approval to amend three existing Acts to facilitate the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

The approval was given at a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 March 2017 in New Delhi.

Following are the three existing Acts which will be amended by the Parliament.

i. The Customs Act, 1962

ii. The Customs Tariff Act, 1975

iii. The Central Excise Act, 1944

Besides, the Cabinet gave its approval to repeal the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.

The above proposals will result in the following benefits.

• Insertion of Sections 108A and 108B in the Customs Act, 1962 seeks to provide for furnishing of information relating to import or export of goods by specified persons.

• This amendment will enable analysis and detection of cases of under or over-valuation in imports and exports, misuse of export promotion schemes including the Drawback Scheme.

Understanding GST & Its Implications

• It will also lead to detection of violations of the provisions of the Customs Act and various other laws under which customs officials have been authorized to effectively implement these laws

• Amendments or repeal of various provisions of other Acts will result in cleansing of the irrelevant portions from the statute book and reduce multiplicity of taxes.

About Goods and Services Tax

• Goods and Services Tax is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market.

• It is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer.

• The benefits of GST are multifold. The new tax regime leads to uniformity of tax rates and structures, improved competitiveness in the industry and relief in overall tax burden to the consumer.

• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is expected to be rolled out on 1 July 2017 after the passage of the necessary laws by the Parliament.