IT sector fears raise in tax points

The industry body urges the govt to make CGST and IGST a single taxation point

The information technology (IT) and information technology-enabled services (ITeS) industry body Nasscom on Wednesday said the proposed goods and services tax (GST) Bill was likely to increase the tax points for the industry.

"IT services are intangible,” R Chandrasekhar, president of Nasscom, said here on Wednesday. “We have number of concerns which have been shared with the government. Today, we have a simple regime, one single point of taxation which is the central service tax, one single point of registration, one single invoice and one single place where you have to go for any refund. Now under GST regime, it could be as high as 111 points. Because you have CGST, IGST, SGST. We have 36 states and Union territories. All put together it becomes 111 different tax points."

According to the Nasscom president, all the key service sectors would be impacted by the Constitution amendment Bill.  

Industry concerns have already been brought to the notice of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he said. "The minister assured us that these issues will be looked into."

Bhaskar Pramanik, Chairman, Microsoft India, said: “I am pleased that the goods and services tax (GST) Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha. It is a positive development and I hope the government will implement this long-pending reform by April 1, 2017. The government’s idea of a single tax regime is crucial to improve ease of doing business in India and address the ambiguities of the current indirect tax landscape, proving beneficial for the economy, at large.”