Traders hopeful that GST will end miseries they faced with VAT: CAIT

Traders across the country are "putting up a brave face" to adopt the GST, hoping that it will put an end to their miseries faced during VAT regime despite having a few concerns over the new indirect tax regime, the Confederation of All India Traders said today.

The nation-wide Goods and Services Tax (GST), which comes into effect from midnight, will overhaul India's convoluted indirect taxation system and unify the $2 trillion economy with 1.3 billion people into a single market.

"Somehow traders have put up a brave face to adopt GST and hope that it will put an end to their miseries faced during Value Added Tax (VAT) regime. They also hope that transparency of GST will restore their dignity," Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal told PTI.

Elaborating upon the preparedness of traders to comply with the GST, Khandelwal said those having computers have been fully geared up to adopt GST and will be generating invoices from tomorrow.

He said a large number of traders have upgraded their existing systems whereas others are purchasing GST compatible software to meet the compliance obligations.

Post the GST launch, CAIT intends to submit an exhaustive memorandum to Union and state governments containing issues and concerns of traders pertaining to simplification and rationalisation of procedures, removal of anomalies and contradictions in tax rates and reducing the compliance cost.

The traders' body said it has convened a meeting of its national core committee on July 7 here to draw out a roadmap for the implementation of GST by businesses and will undertake a massive outreach plan to galvanise traders for smooth and hurdle free transition to the new indirect tax regime.

"We were not happy with the VAT tax regime since having much human interface coupled with anomalies and disparities, it became a complicated taxation system which promoted migration of businesses of one state to another due to varied tax rates and often proved a tool of harassment and corruption.

"GST will take us out from the clutches of multiple tax and authorities and lessen the compliance burden resulting into more efficient and structured business in the country henceforth," CAIT National President B C Bhartia said.