One year of GST: How these honchos benefitted; explained, in their own words

One year of GST: It has been one year of GST already and there have been no firestorms to battle so far. Glitches were there, but these have been fixed. Now, the country is awaiting the new tax regime to open up its explosive potential that has been much talked about. While that is in the works and may happen as things settle down and tax collections rise, here are a couple of honchos whose first hand account of their experiences will leave you in a much better state of mind as far as your fears and worries about the negative impact of GST are concerned. Read what they said: 

Vidit Garg, Director, Kundan Group

"Prior to implementation of GST, we used to sell and raise invoices adding difference rates of VAT OR CST applicable in different states. However, there was no such mechanism to get CST refund.

Now after implementation of GST, there is only one tax applicable for the entire nation, which has made easier raising the invoices for our account department without verifying the applicability of ST (sales tax) in different states. Moreover, earlier we used  to pay OCTROI whenever we get goods into  a particular state i.e. in Maharashtra, and it was cumbersome procedure. Now there is no OCTROI to be paid. Further, in some states, there was an Entry Tax, such as in Uttrakhand which has now been abolished, which has given a big relief to companies like us.

Earlier we used to not get input of service tax paid on say banking services (charges etc.), which was adding to our cost. But, now we are able to claim input for Banking service charges and other services also." 

However, he wanted some changes to be effected to the GST regime to make it more suitable for companies like his.

Suggestion:

"We would like to suggest that obtaining of different GST for our different offices located in various states should be dispensed with and there should be only one GST per PAN No. In other words, for each company, there should be only one GST no., irrespective of its offices in various states." 

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Akshay Chaturvedi, Co-Founder & CEO, Leverage EDU:  

"GST is a beautiful thing for the country in the longer run, possibly the most important indirect tax reform. It signals the current government's resolve to bring in fundamental and structural changes which will have the widespread effect. Yes, the doubts prevail in the startup economy, and we must work together with the department to put these to rest and ensure India is #1 on that Ease of Doing Business Index!

Conclusively, it's brought in simplicity in our monthly tax compliance. That helps us focus on more important things that would grow the business exponentially!"