BE READY FOR GST.....

GST portal goes live, GSTN software almost ready: Chairman

A NEW and simpler portal for the incoming Goods and Services Tax regime went live on Tuesdaythatwill enableeasyfiling of returns and tax payments through credit/debitcards and other modes.

As much as 60 per cent of the software needed to run GST is ready and GSTN — the company building thegigantic infrastructure and IT backbone for it, made the www.gst.gov.in portal live for migrating existing tax payers. It will test the software for integrating awelter of stateand central levies before the 'one market, one rate' tax model comes into being fromApril next year.

GSTN chairman Navin Kumar said mi-grating more than 65 lakh VAT payers, about 20 lakh service tax payers and about 3-4 lakh central excise duty payers to a new portal has started. Aprovisional identification number, called GSTIN for the assesses who have moved to the new portal is being generated, Kumar said.

New registrations under GST will start fromApril2017. On the new portal, business-men and traders who currently have to file separate returns for array of indirect taxes like excise duty, service tax and VAT, will file a single monthly return and pay tax online through various payment cards, including credit and debit, he said.

GSTN is building a network that will not just integrate theassessees paying service tax, excise and other local levies, but willalso help in building the IT backbone.

"Because we started work in November 2015, today we are in a happy position that 60 percentof thesoftwaredevelopment has been completed; 40 per cent is balance and that work is going on," Kumar said. 

                                                                                                         From Sources:-

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             It is learnt that the GSTN training will commence for staff from 2nd week of December, tentatively at various stations like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata etc. The officers so trained will further train the fellow officers in their respective jurisdiction and will be authorized to test the GSTN software. The schedule of the enrollment activation drive for state as well as deadline for the same is given. However the window will be open till 31^st Jan., 2017 for those who have missed the deadline.

        Now the maximum officers of the department are being trained theoretically. From December onwards, all have to gear up to acquire skill on GSTN so that all are ready to welcome the GST in time as proposed by the Government of India.