Coaching centres offer crash courses to help individuals grasp GST
Avinash Gupta, an electronic components dealer at Lajpat Rai market in the Walled City, spent the whole of June trying to figure out the ways in which the newly unveiled Goods and Services Tax (GST) applies to his business. However, when all attempts at comprehension failed, he decided to enrol in a crash course offered by a citybased private institute last week.
“I simply could not understand how factors such as the reverse-credit mechanism, debit note and credit note apply to my business. The government explained only the macro aspect of the GST to traders, but there are many micro factors that I found hard to practise on a day-to-day basis,” said Gupta.
But that’s not an issue anymore. Henry Harvin – the citybased institute that Gupta joined – has now educated him in everything he needs to know. The small-time businessman even received a GST Practitioner certificate upon completion of the course.
“About 500 people have already taken our course,” said Henry Harvin founder Kounal Gupta. “Chartered accountants are not the only ones who approach us. We have traders, lawyers, engineers, doctors…”
The eight-hour GST Master Class, which costs ₹3,000, includes intensive training in the finer nuances of the new tax regime. The “students” are also given 700 pages of study material to go through.
“Our classes are very interactive. We encourage people to pose queries if there is any confusion,” said Gupta.
Many institutes and individuals across the city have come up with certification courses to tutor people in the practical application of GST. While several offer face-to-face classroom teaching, others provide online education and digitised study material.
The fees for these courses come up to anywhere between ₹3,000 and ₹6,000. Bimal Jain, a Delhi-based chartered accountant, visits a studio at Aldine – an educational institute in east Delhi – to offer ‘Live GST lessons’ on weekends.
CONTINUED ON P 6