Place draft of GST laws in public domain: Industry tells FinMin

Work on these laws almost complete, says ministry

Business representatives on Thursday pressed for putting proposed draft on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws in the public domain and asked the finance ministry to engage with it more regularly to prepare businesses for the new indirect tax regime, targeted to be rolled out from April 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has clarified that it is not encroaching into the states’ domain of taxation by taxing commissions of agents of lotteries. At an interaction with officials of the department of revenue (DoR), organised by business chamber PHDCCI here, business representatives said they need a forum with the finance  ministry to represent their views. They also wanted to know from the officials  as to when the drafts of GST laws would be put in the public domain.

Revenue secretary Shaktikanta Das said the government would try to get the constitutional amendment Bill on GST passed in by Parliament in the current session. The Bill is required to be passed with a two-third majority in each House. The ruling National Democratic Alliance is awfully short of even a simple majority in the Rajya Sabha. As such, it needs the opposition's support to pass the Bill.

A BIT WORRIED

• Industry's concern is that it needs to understand  these laws so that introduction of GST doesn't  give it any surprises
   
• Revenue secretary Shaktikanta Das clarified the Centre was not moving  into  the  states' domain by imposing service tax on selling or marketing agent of lotteries

To become a law, it also needs ratification by at least half  of the states,15, which also necessitates the ruling coalition to seek the support of the opposition. Das said the work on GST laws—central GST (CGST), state GST (SGST) and integrated GST (IGST)—is also getting almost finalised.

“Once constitutional amendment Bill is through, these pieces of legislation will be taken up by Parliament in respect of CSGST and IGST and STST imultaneously  by state legislatures," he said.

Side by side work on GST-Network to create an IT backbone is also going on, Das said.

Industry's concern is that it needs to understand  these laws so that introduction of GST don't  give  them any surprises.

Das said public interaction with industry and trade on GST is actually taking place at various centres. "But we probably need much more interaction. We will have a greater level of of  interaction with industry and trade," he said.

The revenue secretary said he was confident that GST would be introduced from 2016-17. Das also clarified that the Centre is not moving  into  the  states' domain by imposing service tax on selling or marketing agent of lotteries.

"We are not taxing business of lottery. It is on services provided by distributors and agents of lotteries. The tax is on the commission which  they are earning. These are two different things," he said.

The revenue secretary said the Union government is sensitive to the constitutional allocation of taxation powers between the Centre and states. "We are not interfering in what is assigned to the states by the Constitution," he added.

The Budget has proposed to withdraw exemption from  service tax  given so  far to selling or  marketing agent  of lottery ticket to a distributor of lottery.

Das reiterated a small window provided  to those having  money abroad  to  declare  it to the government  is not an  amnesty scheme,  but will not  involve  prosecution.