NO CONSENSUS IN GST COUNCIL
NEW DELHI: After the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council failed to reach a consensus after its two-day meeting, finance minister Arun Jaitley said he was “keeping his fingers crossed” and was still targeting April 1, 2017 for the rollout of the new tax structure.
The council will hold its next meeting on December 11 and 12 to find a common ground on issues related to dual control, central GST and state GST.
Sources said states were concerned about the impact of demonetisation on their revenue and Jaitley also held informal discussions with state finance ministers on the issue after they insisted.
“We are still targeting April 1, 2017, for rollout of GST. Are we close to a resolution? I will keep my fingers crossed,” Jaitley said after the meeting.
He told reporters that that issue of cross empowerment and compensation would be taken up in the next meeting.
“GST Council had discussed draft CGST and SGST laws, but approval will take some time. Discussions on dual control of assessees remain inconclusive,” the finance minister said.
The issue of dual control – whether the centre or the state will have authority on GST assesses— is one of the thorny issues that needs to be ironed out. Three GST legislations — CGST, IGST and compensation law — need to be finalised after which they will be introduced in Parliament.
The NDA government is keen to introduce these in the ongoing session, which is on till December 16.
“One would hope that there would be a headway in the next council meeting ..It looks increasingly difficult to get the GST laws passed in the winter session of Parliament,” said Pratik Jain, partner and leader indirect tax, PwC.