Employees may have to bear the GST burden on benefits

Many employee benefits are likely to fall under the ambit of GST. The final cost of these levies may have to be borne by the employees, as employers are likely to pass them on

A garment manufacturer rejects defective goods and then gives his employees a chance to pick them up at throwaway prices. Many organisations offer laptops to employees to enable them to work on the go. Should transactions such as these attract the goods and services tax (GST)? So far, companies have analysed the impact of GST largely on their outward and inward supplies. Most are still grappling with the mammoth task of making themselves fully GST-compliant. In the process, they may have overlooked the impact of GST on employee benefits such as health check-up facilities, mediclaim, mobile handsets, house lease, long