Breaking News: Hearing in Chennai CAT is now scheduled on 15th Dec., 2016. Today in CAT, all the Counsels and ASG were present. As an another application was filed by another litigant, the same was tagged together and posted for hearing on 15th Dec., 2016.
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Days ahead of
the crucial meeting of the GST Council, on who would administer which type of
assessee, CBEC chairperson Najib Shah today said the demand for giving states
the sole control on tax payers with turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore will
disempower the Centre.
Lack of consensus on the issue of how
the new tax, having central and state elements, would be collected and
administered is holding up the supporting legislations on the Goods and Service
Tax (GST), which the government is keen on introducing from April 1 next year.
Stating that both the Centre and
states are committed to ensuring that a taxpayer is assessed only once in the
hands of one tax administration, Shah said GST was conceived as a dual
structure and the government does not want to convert that into
"duel" assessment.
"The debate and
discussion has only been whether the Central government should be kept out of a
certain category of goods. We seriously believe that while I empower you, you
cannot disempower me. In effect, by saying that you cannot be there in a certain
category of goods, you are disempowering me which we have our reservations
about," Shah said at an event organised by industry body Assocham.
The issue of administrative control on
assessees in the new tax regime was discussed by the all powerful GST Council,
comprising Union Finance Minister and state representatives, but the deadlock
persisted. The Council will now meet on December 11-12 to thrash out a
consensus.
"We are very clear
that one assessee will be dealing with the administration of either state or
the Centre. So the entire cross empowerment issue was, we empower each other to
say that in case the state authorities look at SGST issue, they also look at
CGST and vice versa," Shah said.
States like West Bengal, Kerala,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have insisted on exclusive control
over small taxpayers, who earn less than Rs 1.5 crore in annual revenue, for
both goods and services. But the Centre is reluctant to divide the assessment
on the basis of turnover.
"We are very clear
that the underlying philosophy of a single administration only dealing with an
asseessee is something which will be honored and which both administrations are
committed to. I am sure that issue will get resolved," Shah said, hoping
for GST roll out from April next year.
Shah urged the industry to prepare its
information technology backbone for adapting to the new tax regime.
“GST is a reality, from central
government side and from most state government’s side. There will be readiness,
and I would urge the industry to also get suitably ready,” he said.
The GST Council met last weekend to
discuss the tax jurisdiction, the model GST law, integrated GST (IGST) law and
compensation law. But consensus eluded the meet.
The finalization of these laws will
pave the way for introduction of GST legislations in the ongoing winter session
of Parliament, which ends on December 16.
Shah also said that the GST Council in
its last meeting had brought in certain changes to the model laws which will be
made public after the laws are approved by the Council.
In November, the Council agreed on a four-slab
structure -5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent—along with a cess on luxury and ‘sin’
goods such as tobacco.
From
Sources:-
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