GST bill is now a law as President gives his assent

New Delhi, Sep 9 (KNN) President Pranab Mukherjee has given his nod to the Constitution Amendment Bill on Goods and Services Tax (GST), as per the media reports.

This is a major step towards rolling out a new indirect tax regime, which the Modi government wants to come into effect from April 1 next year.

Now in the next move, the Government will set up the GST council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges.

The GST is a single indirect tax, which will subsume most of the Central and State taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duty, service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs.

On August 8, Parliament passed the Bill, which was then circulated to the State governments seeking its ratification.

A Constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by the legislative Assemblies of at least 50 per cent of the States.

The Bill was sent to the President’s Secretariat after as many as 19 States. Assam was the first state who ratified it.

The other States that have passed legislation include Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, Telangana, Goa, Odisha, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said recently that the government is ahead of schedule for GST implementation.

“Instead of 30 days kept for this (States’ ratification), it is achieved in 23 days,” he said in a tweet.

Now that the Bill has got Presidential assent, the government will notify the GST Council. Headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Council comprises state Finance Ministers. (KNN Bureau)