GST spooks big taxpayers of country's first LTU in Bengaluru

High-net worth entities of country's first Large Taxpayer Unit (LTU) here are unnerved at the protocols that would follow proposed roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST) next year even as they seek more facilities from government to improve the ease of doing business in India.
The LTU in the Karnataka capital was the first, among the five such facilities in the country, to be created in 2006 by the central government to act as a 'single window' facilitation centre for all large entities who have to pay various taxes like excise, corporate/income tax and service tax, under one roof.

The centralised unit here, which at present has 58 big taxpaying entities and corporate houses from Karnataka and Goa, collects about 20 per cent of indirect taxes (service and excise tax) and about 13 per cent of I-T in the said region, underlying the fact that despite having a very small number of taxpayers under its umbrella, the LTU captures a fairly big share in total revenue collection basket in the said region.
"Registering under the LTU is a boon for us as our 10 different offices located in various cities in the country are being assessed for all types of tax under one roof here which gives us a thrust to business operations and reduces a lot of litigation.

"But, when we talk about GST implementation from next year, there are unanswered questions in our mind, as then, would we have a similar kind of ease of doing business or we would have to register in different states separately? There is no clarity as of now," Vice-President (Indirect Taxes) Bosch Limited, G Elango told PTI.
Bosch Limited, according to data provided by the LTU, has paid a total of Rs 741 crore under various taxes in the current fiscal (updated till February, 2015).

Similar sentiments are echoed by another LTU assessee ABB India Limited.
"By registering under the LTU, our cost of doing business has come down. We get refunds in time and a lot of litigation has reduced. The GST looks to be a mystery for us. We just want that we get to have ease of doing business as promised by the new government when it took charge at the centre," Vice-President and Head (Indirect Taxes) at ABB, R C Pillai said.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST), an indirect tax regime, is to be rolled out from April 2016 that will subsume various levies like entry tax and octroi.