GST a more efficient and effective substitute for a plethora of indirect taxes: FM

The goods and services tax (GST) is a more effective and efficient substitute for plethora of indirect taxes, union finance minister P Chidambaram said today. He said he was hopeful that the GST Bill would be passed before the end of the current financial year.

Addressing a meeting of the consultative committee attached to the ministry of finance, he said there might be some issues relating to GST and its network (GSTN) to be resolved, which are not insurmountable.

The finance minister said the objective is to put in place an effective and efficient tax system, which is friendly and fair to the taxpayers. He said that once GST is implemented, it would not be adversarial to the taxpayers.

As part of the mandate, the Empowered Group (EG) on IT Infrastructure for GST has recommended an appropriate structure and roadmap for creation of an SPV to be called the Goods and Services Tax Network to deliver the required IT services for GST implementation.

The GSTN SPV would provide standard and uniform interface to the taxpayers, share infrastructure and services to central and state governments. The common and shared infrastructure for GST would also be leveraged for providing benefits to centre and states, ahead of the GST roll-out, he said.

The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers (EC) and the finance minister endorsed the recommendations of EG on the IT strategy for GST, the structure and role of GSTN SPV, as also the selection of NSDL as technology partner for incubating SPV.