Centre, states must evolve consensus on new fiscal

Centre and states need to evolve a consensus on the lines of the GST for shifting to January-December financial year in one go instead of just some states choosing to do so, creating practical difficulties for trade and industry, Assocham said on Monday.

“For pan-India businesses, the accounting standards and the financial year of all the government organisations should be uniform. We should not have a situation where the industry and trade has one set of books for Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the other for Uttar Pradesh and yet another for the Central government,” said the industry chamber.

It said if all the states and the Centre agree to a shift of the financial year from current April-March to Jan-Dec, Niti Aayog should work towards building a consensus and then, “let the entire country shift towards the calendar year becoming the financial year in one go.”

“This is even more important in the wake of roll out of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1, which will unite the entire country into a single market. The businesses are all busy and working overtime to meet this deadline in terms of putting their IT infrastructure in place and in sync with the GSTN. At this point in time, if some select states choose to shift their fiscal year to a new system, it could be quite a task for the trade and industry; first to comply with the GST, then to align with the financial years of different states. Uniformity is the key, whatever is the financial year, that is critical,” it said.

Assocham said, if there is a merit in shifting to the Jan-Dec fiscal, then, it should not be difficult for the states to come to a consensus. Although , states have their own Constitutional right to have their accounting methods, for the sake of ease of doing business and ease of convenience to the common citizens, uniformity is essential. “In any case, under the impending GST regime, there is a dual registration with the Centre and the states. Ideally, both must have a uniform financial year,” it added.

ASSOCHAM said Niti Aayog should work towards building a consensus and then, “let the entire country shift towards the calendar year becoming the financial year in one go.”