Source Business standard
CS A Rengarajan
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Govt services, office freebies may attract GST |
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New Delhi, 29 March Government services such as issuing of passport, birth certificate and driving licence would attract the goods and services tax (GST), according toarevised draft of the Central GST Bill, introduced in Parliament this week. This isadeparture from the draft Bill introduced in November, which had included these services in Schedule IV,alist of exemptions. The latest version specifically states these would qualify as “business”. “GST appears to be applicable on passport services, issue of birth certificates etc unless exempted atalater stage through an exemption notification,” said Punebased chartered accountant and GST trainer Pritam Mahure. Also, the noncompete amount given by an employer to its outgoing employee is likely to attract the goods and services tax (GST), though clarity on this will emerge only after 31 March when the GST Council meets to frame rules for the new unified tax regime. Noncompete amount isasum paid to an outgoing employee —based on an agreement with the employer —to ensure that he/she does not joinarival company foraset period of time. Even now, this amount attracts service tax, saidMSMani of Deloitte. As such, any amount given to an employee, that is notapart of the contract, might attract GST, he added. Mani, however, cautions that the GST Bills should not be read in isolation of the rules, which are yet to be framed. Which items will attractatax will be determined by these rules and the GST Bills, he said. On taxing of office freebies, the ScheduleI (dealing with supply made without consideration) of the Central GST Bill has provided for an employer to gift to an employee with stuff valued up to ~50,000 inafinancial year without attracting GST. However employers will not be able to claim any input tax credit on the item as it is treated asa “gift”. Any other freebies offered to employees, such as food or cab services will attract GST, experts said. In another departure from the earlier draft, the definition of “agriculturist” has been amended to cover an individual or any Hindu Undivided Family cultivating land, either through own labour or hired labour, under individual or family supervision. Earlier, “agriculturist” referred “any person” cultivating land. The latest draft GST Bill puts the onus of paying GST on the buyer if procured from an unregistered supplier. The procurer will be required to pay the tax under reverse charge basis. “There will be an extra burden of compliances on the buyer in relation to identification of procurements from unregistered persons,” said Bipin Sapra, tax partner, EY. Experts noted that this amendment is likely to haveamassive impact on the compliance complexity for taxpayers and on the competitiveness of unregistered entities. Aperson liable to pay tax under reverse charge has to issueapayment voucher at the time of making payment to the supplier. The buyer could claim input tax credit if there is no breakage in the value chain. In another departure from the draft Bill, the latest version allows businesses to avail input tax credit within six months —as against three months earlier —from the date of issue of invoice. In the earlier draft GST Bill, specific provision allowed input tax credit on pipelines and telecom towers under the plant and machinery category. However, this provision is omitted in the latest draft. Under the latest draft Bill companies have to maintain books of account and records for up to 72 month (six years) from the due date of furnishing of annual return, instead of 60 months (five years) as per the earlier draft. On March 31, the Council will work out rules on composition, valuation, tax collected at source and transitions. It has already approved rules on refunds, invoices, returns, payments and registration. The Council will also take up any changes to the already cleared rules on five issues. The Council has cleared five Bills —those relating to the Centre, states, union territories and interstate movement of goods and services, besides compensation. While Parliament is debating four of these, the state GST Bill will have to be cleared by the respective state Assemblies. KARAN CHOUDHURY New Delhi, 29 March Not just real estate but transport and warehousing sectors would also be affected if the government goes ahead with its plan to levy the goods and services tax (GST) on leasing of land, renting of commercial space as well as EMIs paid for the purchase of underconstruction houses. According to industry experts, bringing leasing of land under the GST ambit comes asasurprise to many as it was not supposed to beapart of it earlier. However, its effects would be offset by tax credits that people would get in return for paying GST. Major transporters lease land to keep their trucks as well as other vehicles. “As much as the ambit of GST is expanded it would have its pluses and minuses. We believe that whatever would be levied under GST, we would be able to reclaim it in tax credits. This would help major transporters and logistics players,” said SP Singh, senior fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training. The sale of land and buildings will, however, be kept out of the purview of GST, the new indirect tax regime. Such transactions will continue to attract the stamp duty, according to the legislations Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha for approval. The real estate sector is worried about the percentage of tax to be levied, which they fear would be kept ataminimum of 12 per cent. At present, while service tax is levied on commercial space renting, for underconstruction houses, service tax and value added tax (VAT) are both charged at around nine per cent. “The tax in GST regime should not be more than what it is at present. We have madearepresentation to the government to keep it between eight and nine per cent,” said Parveen Jain, president of real estate body NAREDCO. There are also fears that an increase in taxes on EMIs might further impact the residential sector. However, experts expect some changes in the new tax regime during the March 31 GST Council meeting. GST on land leasing, renting of commercial space to affect multiple sectors |
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