State finance ministers to meet this week to discuss model GST law

FM Arun Jaitley will participate in the meeting of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and try to iron out differences

Amid hopes of the long pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill getting passed in Rajya Sabha in the next Parliament session, state finance ministers will deliberate on the model GST law at a two-day meeting in Kolkata beginning Tuesday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will participate in the meeting of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers and try to iron out differences over the new regime that will subsume all indirect taxes and create one national market under the GST.

"The meeting on June 14 and 15 will discuss the model GST law, which will be adopted by the Centre and all states. Union finance minister will attend the meeting on June 14," an official said.

The Centre is planning to roll out the indirect tax from the next financial year beginning April 1, 2017, but the GST bill has been pending in Rajya Sabha because of stiff opposition from the Congress party.

Once the Constitution Amendment Bill to roll out GST is passed by the Parliament, the Centre and states will have to adopt their own laws to give effect to the new indirect tax regime.

The central GST will be framed based on the model GST law. The states will draft their own state GST based on the draft model law with minor variations incorporating state-based exemptions.

Besides these, the Centre and states will have to approve the integrated-GST law, or iGST, which will deal with inter-state movement of goods.

The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers is headed by West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who took over the chairmanship in February.

The government has proposed to take up the GST Constitution Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha in the forthcoming monsoon session of the Parliament.

The reform of indirect taxation was initiated by the Kelkar Committee in 2003, following which the United Progressive Alliance government in 2011 proposed the GST Bill.

The GST Constitution Amendment Bill was passed by Lok Sabha in May last year and has been pending in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have the majority.