All You Need to Know About the Draft Model GST Law

The Model Law is Actually Two Laws

• Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016 (GST)
  
• Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2016 (IGST)
  

And rules… GST Valuation (Determination of the Value of supply of Goods and Services) Rules, 2016.

What and When?

• GST will be levied on all forms of ‘supply' of goods or services (sale, transfer, barter, exchange, license, rental, lease, import…)
  
• The liability to pay GST will arise at the time of supply as determined for goods and services
  
• It would be crucial to determine whether a transaction is an ‘Intra-State' or ‘Inter-State' as GST (i.e. Central GST plus State GST or Integrated GST) will be applicable accordingly

Who?

• All persons crossing threshold of aggregate turnover of Rs 10 lakhs in a financial year. The threshold is Rs 5 lakhs for North-Eastern States.
• Persons making inter-state taxable supply irrespective of threshold
• Persons liable to pay GST under reverse charge
• Input service distributor
• Aggregator
• E-commerce operator
  

Separate registration is required to be taken in each state.

Did You Know?

• A taxpayer has to file 3 Returns in a month (outward supplies, inward supplies and consolidated)
• ‘Securities' have now been included in the definition of goods
• Given that goods & services are now brought on the same platform, inclusion of securities under the GST regime could enable every trade to be construed as a supply and thus chargeable under the GSTIntangibles are deemed to be considered as ‘services'
• There is a negative list for input tax credit. It is not available for catering services, employee insurance…
• Taxes for the current period cannot be paid until the taxes/interest/late-fee/penalty in relation to returns of previous tax periods have not been deposited
• Imports of both goods and services have been deemed as inter-State supplies leviable to IGSTExport is zero-rated.
• E-Commerce operators will have to collect (and deposit) tax at source on payments made to the vendors. They are also required to file statements relating to supplies made through the portal
• Supplies of branded services by Aggregators has been deemed as a supply by the Aggregator