ICAI may help in GST roll-out

State finance minister Asim Dasgupta and the Institiute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)  could work together on the basis of a ICAI concept paper on goods and services tax (GST) to ensure smooth GST roll-out in West Bengal.

Dasgupta, head of the empowered committee of state finance ministers on Value Added Tax (VAT), recognized the role of ICAI in implementation of the VAT regime, claimed Ved Jain, president of ICAI.

ICAI was scheduled to meet the minister again in a month's time. ICAI had been studying GST in various countries, and included these inputs in the concept note, Jain said.  Discussions were on a macro level, said N Haldar, chairman of the eastern regional council of ICAI.

The final version of the GST should be ready in a few month as the Finance ministry had approved the GST model and road map in April this year.

With implementation of GST in 2010, central sales tax (CST) would be gradually phased out from 3 per cent now.

ICAI had suggested in November 2007 a two-tier GST model with central GST at 12 per cent and state level GST at around 6-8 per cent, Jain said. Besides working on features of GST including accounting, valuation and auditing guidelines, ICAI could aid the state government in training government officials for implementation of GST. 

ICAI organised seminars and training sessions round the year for chartered accountants and now, joint seminars for both CAs and government officials could be held.