Budget 2019: Three major changes that can be made to GST

Budget 2019: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to present Union Budget 2019 on July 5 and the expectations are high as this is the first budget of the second term of the Modi government. While several industries have put forward their demands, more and more voices have been asking changes in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for its simplification. Prashant Deshpande, Partner, Deloitte India told Zee Business Online that during the run-up to Union Budget 2019, expectations are rising to bring in reforms aimed at creating a tax and business-friendly environment. 

The GST Council had recommended a few changes to the GST law recently. These changes are expected to be brought into effect in the ensuing budget. Here are the three major changes that can be made to GST, according to Prashant Deshpande -

1. Relief to taxpayers for calculation of interest on net liability (after adjusting input tax credit).

2. Creation of the Centralised Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling to deal with divergent decisions given by two or more state Authorities for Advanced Rulings.

3. Removal of interest component on the reversal of credit in case of non-payment of vendor invoices within 180 days from the date of invoice, and a similar relaxation from payment of interest on the import invoices where GST is payable under reverse charge when the payment to the vendor is delayed beyond 60 days.

As far as the customs are considered, he said that to ease the financial burden on importers, Merchandise Export from India Scheme and service export from India scheme scrips should be allowed to use for the payment of GST.

"The present law does not provide for manner of claiming refund of countervailing duty (‘CVD’) and special addition duty (‘SAD’) paid after 1 July 2017 on the non-fulfillment of export obligation where imports were made before the implementation of GST. In the pre-GST period, CVD or SAD was allowed to be recovered by way of input tax credit. To provide continuity of tax neutralisation, the government should lay down a procedure to claim the refund of such duties," Prashant added.