New Delhi: State Finance Ministers will meet on Wednesday, August 20 to iron out differences for early roll-out of the ambitious Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
"In tomorrow's meeting, the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers is likely to discuss the recommendations of a committee comprising officials from the Finance Ministry and some of the states on integrated GST," a senior Finance Ministry official said on Tuesday.
The integrated GST is a tax on inter-state movement of goods.
Jammu & Kashmir Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather is the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST.
Recently, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that with the Parliament session now over, his ministry would focus on the roll-out of GST. (Read more)
The GST will subsume indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax at the central level and VAT on the states front, besides local levies.
The Constitutional Amendment Bill, prepared by the previous UPA government in 2011 to pave way for rolling out GST, is yet to see the light of the day.
The GST roll-out has missed several deadlines on account of differences over contentious issue of Central Sales Tax (CST) compensation and design of the GST structure between the states and the Centre. States are opposing inclusion of petroleum and alcohol in GST.
Recently, Minister of State for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman had said CST compensation to the states for 2011-12 and 2012-13, along with balance amount of 2010-11 is under consideration as per the Empowered Committee's recommendation.
Committing to expeditious roll-out of GST, Mr Jaitley had in his Budget speech said that a solution to the issues relating to the comprehensive indirect tax regime may be finalised in the current year itself.
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