New Delhi, Oct 8 (KNN)  The tax department has said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) can be implemented anytime during the year, once the Bill is passed.

Addressing the 3rd CII Global Tax Summit organised here on Thursday, Member of Service Tax, CBEC, Ministry of Finance, VS Krishnan clarified that missing the April 1, 2016 deadline does not mean going to April 1, 2017.

“One Committee is already working on the GST rate structure and the Committee is expected to submit its report very shortly. In addition, the Empowered Committee is working with think tank NIPFP on the Revenue Neutral Rate, based on a fresh set of data,” he said, assuring the industry that the rate would not exceed 20 per cent. 

Krishnan reiterated that drafting of the GST law has already been done and it would be given to the Empowered Committee for their inputs. Thereafter, it would be put in the public domain for comments. In addition, the draft Place of Supply rules will also be made public for comments.

He said that a lot of ground work needs to be done on GST by industry associations.

“We need to create a state level GST secretariat in which senior officials from centre and state should come together for interactions in institutionalised arrangements. A lot of hand holding is required for the successful implementation of GST,” he said.

On the issue of delay in refund of service tax, Krishnan observed that it is being looked into and CBEC will come out with the developments very shortly. (KNN Bureau)