GST: Deutsche Bank doubts 2017 deadline, predicts April 2018

Says, it is unclear whether administrative and technological set-up required to make the transition will be up and running by then

It is going to be a "long road" for goods and services tsx (GST) implementation, which is likely to be rolled out from April 2018, says a Deutsche Bank report.

According to the global financial services major, though the government would ideally like to launch GST from April 2017, it is unclear whether administrative and technological set-up required to make the transition will be up and running by then.

"Getting all the states ready to implement a nation-wide GST may therefore take more time than what is currently anticipated," Deutsche Bank said in a research note.

Just as small scale enterprises are lesser prepared than big companies to transition into the new tax regime, some states could express their reservation in rolling out the GST from April 2017.

"In our view, the GST should be implemented from April 2018, which will give adequate time to various stakeholders (central and various state governments, corporate and small scale enterprises, tax authorities etc) to get ready for transitioning into the new regime," it added.

Going ahead, a majority of India's 29 states will have to ratify the Bill. Then, a GST Council (comprising of the Centre and state representatives) will work on designing the final tax framework.

This includes arriving at a consensus on the GST rate structure and revenue neutral rate (RNR) rate. After the Council's work, the relevant Bills will be brought back to the Parliament's winter session (November-December) for final approval.

Meanwhile, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has said the government is confident of rolling out the GST regime from April 1 next year, but the deadline may be difficult to meet if resolution of issues like the rate of tax and items to be exempted takes longer.

Stating that the government will do its best to stick to the targetted date of rollout, Adhia said the only concern remains resolution of issues by the GST Council.

"As of now, we are optimistic of achieving the target of April 1, 2017. We have already made a plan for training of 60,000 officials, which has already started. 5,000 officers are already trained. The IT backbone will be ready for testing by January 2017," he said.