GST: An idea whose time has come
We are now just days away from the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) on 1 July—the most ambitious indirect tax reform ever attempted in modern India. Yes, the design is far from perfect (given the multiplicity of rates), yet it is a visionary idea on which, amazingly, there is political consensus—something so rare, given that, like the rest of the world, India too has transitioned to a binary discourse. This game changing moment is best summed up in the immortal lines of Victor Hugo: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” Why so? First, it will economically unify the country. At the moment, politically India is united but operates as 32 independent economic territories, imposing a range of taxes and levies as the goods move through the country causing a cascading of taxes. Not only will this end the diseconomy induced by dealing with sovereign republics to conduct business, making the country more competitive, it will also reinforce the political unity of India—something that has always been threatened by external influences. Second, flowing from the above, the implementation of GST will reorder the existing federal polity. The formation of the GST Council, described as India’s first federal institution by Jammu and Kashmir finance minister Haseeb Drabu, was the first step. For most of Independent India’s history,
the country has come to accept a strong Union government dictating economic governance to the states. All this has changed. Ever since the creation of the GST Council, the federal economic relationship has begun to alter. This is largely because GST would not have been possible without a pooling of sovereignties—the Union and state governments have compromised on their individual taxation powers for the larger global good of India. It has sown the seeds of genuine cooperative federalism. The new template is akin to a three-legged race: united they stand, divided they fall. Third, by its very design the GST will put in place an audit trail, a precondition to a rulesbased regime. The demonetization of high value currency notes last year put the spotlight on the cash economy. The introduction of GST reiterates the intent of the country to transition to a less-cash economy or at the least an economy in one which there is a clear record of the transaction trail (exactly why some sections of traders are unhappy). This is a big leg-up for efforts to end the exception-based regime fallout of which is crony capitalism. Fourth, the fitting of various goods and services in the tax slabs, reflects a contemporary consumption trend. It is a tacit acceptance of the fundamental transformation of consumption habits in the country. For instance in the 1990s, the cell phone was a sign of affluence, today about 300-400 million people use a smartphone and the balance 500 million own a basic cell phone. The 2011 Census showed us that the India had materially traded up; abject poverty is no longer the development challenge, instead, as the middle class burgeons, it is inequality. The incoming indirect tax regime acknowledges this new status of the middle class. Fifth, and finally, the process through which the GST was laid out serves as a new template for political discourse. In what is a seemingly confrontational environment the GST Council passed every decision with consensus, despite testing moments? It demonstrates the willingness of India’s political parties to forge consensus for the sake of national interest. To sum up then, the implementation of GST would be the moment when India hits the reset button. Now all eyes are on 1 July.
Eight things that businesses need to do before GST
GST is less than a week away. ET brings a last minute check-list by PwC of all the things that businesses need to do.
GET REGISTERED FOR GST Under GST laws, entities supplying taxable products and services need to be registered in all the states from which these will be supplied. An entity already registered in a state under any existing law should be migrated to the GST regime. Unregistered entities will have to get registered in the specific states from which supplies are made. The window for this is likely to open from June 25 for a month or so. GEAR UP IT SYSTEMS TO ISSUE INVOICES FROM DAY 1 IT systems will need to be readied, and all the requisite changes made, to issue invoices from the first day of the GST regime. Invoice formats will have to be amended as soon as possible. Moreover, according to GSTIN requirements, customer related data as well as tax codes and conditions (used to compute tax on every transaction) will need to be updated in IT systems and configured to generate reports required for GST. TRAIN YOUR TEAM AND STAKEHOLDERS It is imperative that all employees and supply chain partners, such as vendors, distributors and C&F agents, are trained well on amendments in the law. And since the GST law envisages seamless passing of credit of taxes only on suppliers’ compliance with its requirements, it is imperative that all stakeholders are appropriately educated on compliance-related requirements. FINALISE YOUR TAX POSITIONS Supply of goods or services will attract tax in the GST regime. Credit provisions will also see changes. In addition, if a company is registered in different states it will be treated as a distinct entity for levy of GST. Therefore, considering the quantum of changes, each transaction undertaken by a company will have to be identified separately, irrespective of whether GST will be applicable for it or not, in order to determine the tax treatment of the transaction. After the mandatory tax treatment is determined, the transaction will need to be configured in the entity’s IT system. REVISIT AND UPGRADE YOUR BUSINESS PROCESSES From taxation being imposed on the manufacture or sale of goods and provision of services under the present system, it will move to GST being levied on supply of goods and services. In addition, there are various other procedural amendments, such as self-invoicing in the case of purchases made from unregistered vendors, reversal of credit in the case of nonpayment of consideration for goods, etc. Such amendments in the law will necessitate significant changes in various business processes and it will be necessary for entities to assess the impact of these and change the processes, wherever required. AMEND YOUR CONTRACTS WITH VENDORS AND CUSTOMERS Under the existing indirect tax regime, a correlation between the location of receipt of input services and for receipt of invoices for such services at any location in India is not required. In the GST regime, since the credit pool for every state will need to be maintained separately, it will be necessary to ensure that an invoice for input services is received at the place where credit of such services is eligible. This will need an analysis of procurements of services and amendment of contracts with service providers, where required. Similarly, contractual terms with customers will have to be reassessed and revised, if needed. DETERMINE YOUR PRODUCT PRICING EARLY At present, the margins of supply chain partners such as distributors and retailers are computed on the assumption that they are only liable to pay VAT on their sale price. Going forward, supply chain partners will also be required to pay GST on their sale price, and accordingly, their margins will need to be recomputed due to the changes in tax rates and availability of credits. And in addition to revised margins for supply chain partners, the impact on tax credits and movement in the tax rate along with the anti-profiteering provisions under GST will require companies to reset the prices of goods or services supplied by them. Therefore, they will need to determine the overall impact of the new taxation regime on their businesses before taking any decisions on pricing. CLAIM CREDIT FOR TAXES IN TIME The GST law provides for carryforward of accumulated tax credit as well as for claiming credit of various taxes paid on stock in hand (which cannot be claimed at present), subject to fulfilment of the prescribed conditions. Furthermore, for carry forward of their VAT credit balance, taxpayers will have submit their sales tax declaration forms or certificates in Form C, Form F, Form H, etc., as applicable, wherever they have claimed exemption or a concessional rate of CST on such sales. But relevant declaration forms or certificates have not been submitted to the authorities till now. So there is an urgent need to accelerate submission of these forms — sooner rather than later!