Traders learn ABC of GST as roll-out deadline nears

With only three weeks left for roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST) from July 1, millions of traders and businesses, big and small, are making a beeline for classes to learn the ABC of the new system.

Industry bodies, such as the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and the Retailers Association of India (RAI), are organising nationwide classes to teach traders the nitty-gritty and how to become GST-compliant.

According to experts, while the value added tax (VAT) was not a tech-heavy tax regime and did not have many implications for businesses, the GST is based on technology and has a complex structure. “For traders who might not be tech savvy and have problems understanding tax intricacies, it is important we provide them with some hand-holding,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT.

The classes elaborate on the various rules affecting a particular sector, offer on-ground guidance from consultants and provide information on software to be used for filing taxes, among other things. The trader body, which is going to organise as many as six “mega classes” all over the country over the next month, plans to make at least 100,000 traders GST-compliant. “We will organise one class each in the north, south, west, east, centre and northeast. We already have sponsors to finance these. The classes are divided into theoretical training and crash course in software, among other things. Not only that, we will teach them how to incorporate use of digital payments in the GST regime,” Khandelwal said.

CAIT, in association with Acer India and Tally Solutions, launched on Tuesday ‘BIZGURU’, a plug-and-play business solution for seamless transition to GST. RAI is also organising interactive sessions in Mumbai and Delhi to educate the fraternity. The sessions am ied to help retailers eliminate hurdles in compliance of the GST rules. It has also started providing help via its official website. “Members of RAI deal with a variety of goods and services as they represent various retail formats. As they move into a new and complex regime, a help desk, with seasoned experts on the panel, will help extract collective wisdom and ease the move towards GST,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive officer, RAI.

Many are also organising sector-specific workshops to ensure that any ambiguity attached to a particular business is addressed.