Small traders having annual turnover of up to Rs 20-25 lakh will be exempted from GST and the Centre and the states are likely to agree to this limit, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today.
"There will be an exemption limit for small traders and the limit is likely to be fixed at Rs 25 lakh. The states and the Centre are now involved in an intense discussion on this. More or less, we have reached an understanding that the limit will be up to Rs 20-25 lakh," Adhia said on Finance Ministry's YouTube channel.
Adhia further said traders having total turnover below Rs 25 lakh, will not be required to file GST.
States have been demanding that GST should not be imposed on businesses with annual turnover of less than Rs 10 lakh. The same limit should be Rs 5 lakh for special category and NE states.
Currently, the threshold for Value-Added Tax (VAT) is Rs 10 lakh in most states.
Adhia said GST will ensure ease of doing business for traders, and compliance will be better as tax evasion would be difficult.
He said the incidence of tax on most items would come down on implementation of GST from the current 30-32 per cent in some commodities.
Also a 24X7 call centre in every state will be formed which will answer queries relating to GST. Similarly, there will be a call centre for answering questions on GSTN for payment of taxes.
Adhia said the filing of GST return would be easy as the
software is simple and can be used by a layman. Besides, those traders which have excise, service tax or VAT registration will be automatically migrated to GST.
He said after the GST Constitution Amendment Bill gets the President's assent, the GST Council comprising Union finance minister and state counterparts would be formed.
"We hope to complete the discussion in GST Council within two months and then we will bring the CGST and IGST bills in Parliament... By February 2017, we hope to be ready completely," Adhia said.
He also appealed to businessmen to get ready for GST by March end. "We are committed from central government to implement GST as early as possible."
As regards dual control, Adhia said there will be no duplication on investigations.
"Only one authority will get power to investigate. The power to issue notice with either be with the Centre or state government. So you will have only single authority to deal with," he said.
