Rotary Club of Bombay West in association with Bombay Industries
Association and MIDC Marol Industries Association organized GST Seminar. This event was supported by 15 other Rotary
Clubs from Rotary International’s District 3141.
Addressing the packed hall at Rotary Service Centre, Juhu, Mumbai,
keynote speaker CA Sunil Gabhawalla gave a glimpse of the new Goods &
Service Tax (GST) – landmark indirect tax knocking at our doors.
GST is proposed to be a comprehensive indirect tax levy on
manufacture, sale and consumption of goods as well as on the services at a
national level. In a utopian situation, the tax has to be a singular tax on all
supplies with a uniform rate and seamless credits for taxes paid at the earlier
stage. The current distinction between goods and services and between concepts
of manufacture, sale, deemed sales, etc. are expected to be subsumed in such a
utopian GST. However, considering the
federal structure of India, the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers
have worked out a dual GST model for India. In this model, both the Central and
the State Governments would levy Central GST (“CGST”) and State GST (“SGST”)
respectively on the same comprehensive base of all supplies, thus eliminating
the distinction between goods and services for the purpose of levy of tax.
Since the State Governments would also have jurisdiction to levy
tax on supplies, the need for addressing issues related to interstate supplies
arises. As a design, GST is proposed to be a destination based consumption tax
and therefore in case of interstate supplies, the tax on the interstate supply
must accrue to the Destination State. This would also enable seamless flow of
credit in case of interstate supplies for business purposes.
To enable a smooth implementation of the above propositions, it
has been decided that interstate supplies, imports and exports be governed by
an Integrated GST (“IGST”). The IGST rate is proposed to be determined by
considering the CGST and SGST Rates. Effectively, in IGST, there would be two
components i.e. CGST and SGST, out of which, the portion of CGST will be held
by the Central Government and the portion of SGST will be transferred to the
destination State Government. Thus, for IGST, the Central Government will work
as a clearing house for the states where consumption takes place. IGST will
also enable smooth flow of credits between the origin and the destination
States.
CA Sunil Gabhawalla went on to explain the way forward, the
procedural aspects, the transition provisions as well as unresolved / grey
areas in the implementation of GST which is expected from 1st April,
2017. His talk was followed by a lively
Q&A Session and a fine summing up of by CA Kanubhai Doshi, himself an
accomplished practicing chartered accountant.
The participants were thoroughly impressed with the oratory skills
of CA Sunil Gabhawalla as well as his mastery over the subject.
"A Sunday well spent"
"Amazing information capsuled in 2 hours with superb delivery
by Sunil."
"Full marks to the Speaker to hold the attention of 100+
audience for over 2 hours on a complex subject like GST"
These were some of the feedback from participants.
Earlier, Rtn.Aslam Merchant, President, Rotary Club of Bombay West
welcomed the speakers and the participants to the Seminar while Shri Shashin
Shah, Past President of Bombay Industries Association formally introduced the
Keynote Speaker, CA Gabhawalla. Shri
Prafull Patel, Secretary of MIDC Marol Industries Association proposed a vote
of thanks at the end of the Seminar.
