GST policy paper to be brought in public domain soon

The policy paper on the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) will soon be brought in the public domain.

“This will allow all the stakeholders register their suggestions and objections to the proposed tax structure,” V Sridhar, chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), said.

These suggestions and objections would allow the government to refine and redraft the paper for nation-wide implementation from April 1, 2010, he added.

Several sub-committees are already working towards ironing out differences and objections on GST by the 29 states in the country.

The major issues to be addressed are as to what should be the threshold limit for tax exemption, which goods are to be exempted, whether amendment is required and the need for the IT architecture for its implementation.

On the issue of dual GST, Sridhar maintained that the taxable goods would only be subject to either Central GST or state GST (SGST). However, all the states would have uniform SGST rates.

Last fiscal, the revenue realisation in central excise, service tax and custom was Rs 1,08,100 crore, Rs 60,716 crore and Rs 99,817 crore, respectively. For the current financial year, the corresponding budget estimates are Rs 1,09,127 crore, Rs 68,900 crore and Rs 1,10,187 crore, respectively.

As of now, service tax has been levied on 110 services and total number of registered service tax payers is 1.1 million.

The Lucknow Zone collected central excise and service tax revenue to the tune of almost Rs 7,000 crore and Rs 750 crore annually respectively. The main revenue yielding commodities are petroleum products, pan masala/gutkha, automobiles, cement, sugar and aluminum products.

The customs and central excise evasion in UP is pegged as high as Rs 200 crore per annum.

The industries, which have highest incidence of tax evasion in the state, include iron and steel units, gutkha, chemicals, paint/varnish and plastic, especially in the unorganised sector.