The much awaited Goods and Services Tax will roll out without much of a hiccup on July 1. Autopace, providing insurance for motor vehicles, said they had received instructions to charge 18 per cent service tax, come July 1.
Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha on Tuesday directed the secretaries of different ministries and departments to ensure that all the Public Sector Units under their administrative control are GST compliant by that big day for the Modi government.
Described as the mother of all economic reforms, the GST has seen political parties run a race for taking the credit. While it was a UPA idea, the BJP had many excuses to oppose it then.
In a letter to all the secretaries to the government of India, Sinha has asked them to set up a GST Facilitation Cell to be managed by a small core team headed by the respective ministry's economic adviser or a designated officer. The Cell, he wrote, shall be in constant touch with the major industry and business associations concerned with the ministry or department, and provide all possible support for a smooth roll out on July 1.
The Department of Revenue is activating Help Lines for individual tax payers to seek resolution of any legal or IT related issues. The GST Facilitation Cell, will serve as the first point of contact for addressing any issue being faced by any business or industrial sector related to the respective ministry.
Though it seems to be an eleventh hour effort, the cabinet secretary has urged them to prepare all stake holders within and without the government, for this big day. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia had also written to the secretaries that there was an urgent need for all the central government Ministries/PSUs to be made aware of the basic features of GST law and procedures, including implication in their respective areas of work.
