The eagerly awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) might not be implemented by April 2012, even as the Government gets set to introduce the Constitutional Amendment Bill required for GST during the current session of Parliament.

“The GST legislation cannot be voted upon until the ratification of the Constitutional Amendment Bill is complete. There may be a problem with the April 2012 time factor to complete the ratification process,” said the Revenue Secretary, Mr Sunil Mitra, at the sidelines of the CII's post-Budget conference on Thursday.

“However, the positive with GST is that it can be implemented from the middle of the year,” he added.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill is set to be introduced during the current session of the Parliament. Mr Mitra said the Finance Ministry is working hard to table it during the first half of the Budget Session.

Long process

But despite their efforts there are likely to be delays with the implementation of GST.

“Even if the Constitutional Amendment Bill goes in now, practically it would be referred to Standing Committee for examination. If the Standing Committee gives its suggestion towards the end of the Winter Session, then we can present it for voting in Parliament earliest in the next Budget Session,” Mr Mitra said.

“Once it is voted in Parliament, it has to go for ratification of 50 per cent States, that will take some time,” he added.

The Secretary said that the Government wanted the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) and GST to be implemented together. But while GST might miss the April 2012 target, DTC is set to be rolled out from April 1, 2012.

Since 2007, the Government has been trying to introduce the new tax regime, under which GST will subsume most of the indirect taxes of the Centre and the States.

The tax reform has already missed the implementation target of April 1, 2010 and it would not be introduced from April 1, 2011.

comment COMMENT NOW