Government Tables Four GST Bills In Lok Sabha

Four supporting legislation to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been tabled in the lower house of Parliament, as the government tries to secure the legislature's nod before the Budget session ends on April 12. The Lok Sabha is expected to pass the bills by Wednesday, said Minister of State for Finance Santosh Gangwar.

The four bills that have been tabled in the Lok Sabha are the Central GST (CGST), Union Territory GST (UTGST), Integrated GST (IGST) and Compensation Bill.

While IGST Bill makes provisions to levy and collect tax on inter-state supply of goods and services or both by the central government, CGST Bill allows such levies and collections.

UTGST Bill allows collection of tax on intra-Union Territory supply of goods and services in the union territories without legislature, while the GST Compensation Bill makes provision to compensate states for any loss incurred in the first five years after implementation of GST. The GST Council may also extend the duration of compensation received by the states.

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The Cabinet had approved these four bills on March 20, after the GST Council cleared these along with the state GST Bill in its last meeting earlier this month. Now, individual state assemblies will also have to approve the State GST Bill.

The Parliament will also have to clear amendments to the Excise and Customs Act to abolish various cesses. On March 22, the Cabinet had given its nod to abolish cesses and surcharges on various goods and services to facilitate rollout of GST.

Once enforced, the GST would subsume a number of indirect levies on goods and services like excise, value-added tax and service tax currently charged by the state and central government.

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