CGST and integrated GST Law cleared, paving way for one-tax regime

Central GST & Integrated GST law have been cleared by the GST Council, according to the latest reports by news agency ANI. This move will mark the begin of a one-tax regime in India. The crucial Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meet, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley took place at Vigyan Bhavan with the agenda to get the council’s approval on iGST (integrated GST), cGST (central GST) and sGST (state GST) drafts before the second half of the budget session of Parliament that begins on March 9.

The government is keen to roll out the new regime from 1 July for which it is likely to hold 12 GST Council meetings in the next week to discuss and get it cleared. The draft compensation bill has already been approved in the Council’s February 18 meeting.

The four crucial bills form the enabling laws under the GST constitutional amendment, and the passage of these bills would pave way for the implementation of India’s biggest indirect tax reform.

GST, which will replace a plethora of central and state taxes, is a consumption-based tax levied on sale, manufacturing and consumption on goods and services at the national level. Under it, CGST will be levied by the Centre, SGST by states and IGST on inter-state supply of goods and services. Different indirect taxes like excise duty, sales tax, CST and service tax are to be merged with CGST while SGST will subsume state sales tax, VAT, luxury and entertainment levies. The second leg of the Budget session of Parliament convenes on March 9.