Comments
The trade and industry, while welcoming the introduction of GST, admit that there is palpable anxiety as all procedures would have to be done online and within the specified time.
Businessmen seem to be perplexed as they are unable to comprehend the rate of tax for their products. They hope that the transition from the present plethora of indirect taxes to GST would be hassle free, and they will not have to incur any cash loss.
Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has in the meantime appealed for declaration of the initial year of GST as “GST Awareness Year” and waiver of penalty due to technical transgression by tax payers during the first year.
S Rethinavelu, Senior President of the Chamber clarified that the trade and industry are not clamouring for deferment of GST roll out considering that teething problems would certainly surface post the introduction of the new tax regime, whatever be the roll out date.
“Procedures and formalities are new and several and totally IT driven. It could take a while to settle down,” he said.
The chamber has also sought relief to mollify the sentiment for reducing the closing stock, a day ahead of the roll out.
Rethinavelu explained that the input tax credit on the closing stock should be allowed to be transferred at the existing rate, as the rates under GST is high due to merger of several indirect taxes.
“Kitchen appliance for instance, now attracts 12.5 per cent excise duty and 14.5 per cent VAT. Input tax credit can be taken only for the VAT component. Under GST rate schedule, a combined 28 per cent is levied for such products. Sale of products with 14.5 per cent input tax credit under VAT, at 28 per cent tax under GST will cause substantial loss to sellers and they will be forced to sell at a discounted price. Dealers on their part would contemplate reducing their closing stock on June 30, 2017 by reducing their purchases and this could result in scarcity of products. To avoid such a situation, dealers should be allowed to take input tax credit of the excise duty mentioned in the purchase invoice and transfer the same to GST,” citing an example to justify the chamber's demand.
The chamber has further appealed for deferment of e-Way bill for one year to avoid severe impediments to trade, industry and transporters.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.