There's lot of confusion about the Indian government's upcoming goods and services tax (GST) among businessmen, what changes it will bring into the current tax structure, what tax they have to pay, among others. 

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Zee Business held one-on-one discussion with traders in Mumbai's Kumbharwada area in order to learn about what they think about the GST tax in presence of panelists like additional commissioner of service tax Raju Shekthivel and partner at ELP Rohit Jain, among others.

It began the discussion by asking the traders about their concerns on GST and made an attempt to resolve their queries.

Here are excerpts of that panel discussion on GST:

1. I belong to Timber and plywood industry and I am concerned with the E-way that we have read the any product that is being transported worth Rs 50,000 and above need a E-way bill,  E-way bill will be a bid headache of inter-state and intra-state transaction also, so we would request within the state it should be removed...

Rohit Jain-Yes, this is correct as par the draft rules, any goods movement Rs 50,000 above be it intra-state or inter-state you have to collect -way bill and have to send via transporter, and both seller and buyer have to keep a tab on the movement of good and vehicle. I understand this is a harsh one and become a problem in easy implementation of GST. But many industries have made presentation to GST council and the council at its May 18-19 meeting will consider this and will make it trader friendly and can introduce it step by step by introducing inter-state first and later will increase the limit, this will help in easy implementation of GST.  

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But for that what a trader has to do he has to maintain proper records like

1. What is the closing stock as on June 30th
2. From where i had purchased the goods
3. Proper document of the goods purchased, whether the goods purchased are from manufacturer or importer...
4. Excise duty, CVD and SAD paid proof

All these documents one has to submit within three months from when the GST is implied to government and based on these document one can claim the credit.

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5. I belong to non-ferrous metal sector and my registration is in Maharashtra and I purchase material from Gujarat and also sell in Gujarat so what is my tax liability?

Location of supplier and place of supply is important. If location of supplier is in state A and place of supply is state B then this will be inter-state. If location of supplier is state A and place of supply is state A the it will be called intra-state.

In your case there is a rule in place of supply,  if the supply is from the third party then third party location will be considered and place of supply. In this case although goods are moving within Gujarat place of supply but since you belong to Maharashtra, place of supply will be considered as Maharashtra hence for A Gujarat goods purchase you will have to pay IGST in Maharashtra and then you raise a invoice in Maharashtra and will levie IGST on Gujarat buyer, even though goods are moved within sates.

If seller sells goods to buyer post GST buyer can take credit of GST but if buyer did not pay seller within 180 days which is a credit period they buyer have to pay the amount with interest. Hence, the buyer has to pay seller within 180 days...

If seller have not uploaded returns uptill then buyer will not get his credit. Hence one has to ensure that your supplier is uploading his returns.

6. I represent stainless pipes industry,  we import we pay excise custom, VAT and take refund from purchaser and there is one additional duty which we claim and get the refund in 4-6 months from government? So post GST what will be status of our refund on additional dutie?  

Now, today you pay additional duty on import.  When you import goods you pay basic custom duty CVD and additional duty. CVD and SAD will be subsumed in GST and on import you have to then pay basic custom duty and IGST and when you will import and sell the stock you will pay GST and then take credit of IGST then there is no stress of any refund nor any additional duty will be levied. 

So in short on import IGST will be levied take credit and put GST and sell stock. 

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