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ABSTRACT
This paper is an attempt to understand the concept of Goods and Service Tax (GST), to be implemented in India from 1st July 2017. This changing face of Indian taxation system paves the path of development and advancement towards which developing country like India is trying to move on. It is the biggest and substantial indirect tax reform since 1947. The main is to replace existing taxes like value-added tax, excise duty, service tax and sales tax. It will be levied on manufacture sale and consumption of goods and services. GST is expected to address the cascading effect of the existing tax structure and result in uniting the country economically. The paper highlights the background, objectives of the proposed GST and the impact of GST in the present tax scenario in India. The paper further explores various benefits, opportunities of GST and challenges faced by India in execution. Descriptive statistical tools are used to analyse and interpret the data collected through secondary sources such as official web sites of Government.
Keywords: Indirect Taxes, Goods and Service Tax (GST).
1.INTRODUCTION
The proposed GST is likely to change the whole scenario of current indirect tax system. Currently, in India complicated indirect tax system is followed with imbrications of taxes imposed by union and states separately. GST will unify all the indirect taxes under an umbrella and will create a smooth national market. Experts say that GST will help the economy to grow in more efficient manner by improving the tax collection as it will disrupt all the tax barriers between states and integrate country via single tax rate. GST was first introduced by France in 1954 and now it is followed by 140 countries. Most of the countries followed unified GST while some countries like Brazil, Canada follow a dual GST system where tax is imposed by central and state both. In India also dual system of GST is proposed including CGST and SGST. It is a domestic trade tax that will be levied in the form of a value added tax on all goods and services -in practice with some exemptions. A value added tax exempts all inputs including capital goods. Hence, it becomes a general tax on domestic consumption. It is a convenient...