8 Challenges That Businesses Need To Overcome in the GST Regime

GST, the greatest tax reform since Independence is here. As are the challenges for businesses across the country. Like everything else, all is not smooth sailing for GST and there are some obvious challenges for businesses and end consumers which we will discuss in detail here.
 

Change in Business Software
 

Most businesses use accounting software or ERPs for filing tax returns which have excise, VAT, and service tax already incorporated in them. The transition to GST will require businesses to change their ERPs, too; either by upgrading the software or by purchasing new GST-compliant software. This will lead to increased costs of  buying new software and training employees on how to use it.
 

ClearTax is the first company in India to launch a ready-to-use GST software. It is currently available at reduced prices for SMEs, to help them to transit to GST to smoothly. To ease f the pain of the people, it doesn’t require you to update the existing software and provide free services for first 3 months.
 

GST Compliance

SMEs are still not completely aware of the nuances of the new tax regime. Changing over to a completely new system of taxation requires understanding of the minutiae, which businesses lack right now. Most of them are worried about filing timely returns, but it is important to note that even before businesses can reach the filing stage they have to issue GST-compliant invoices. For a traditionally pen-and-paper economy like India, this change to digital record-keeping is going to be massive. Invoices after 1st July will need to be GST-compliant with all details such as GSTIN, place of supply, HSN code etc. as mandated by the law. 
 

The ClearTax BillBook web application, which is available for free on their site, is an easy solution to this problem . It will help every business issue GST-compliant invoices to their customers. These same invoices can then be used for return filing through the ClearTax platform.  



Increase in Operating Costs

Most small businesses in India do not employ tax professionals, and have traditionally preferred to pay taxes and file returns on their own to save costs. However, they will require professional assistance to become GST compliant as it is a completely new system. While this will benefit the professionals, the small businesses will have to bear the additional cost of hiring experts.
 

Also, businesses will need to train their employees in GST compliance, further increasing their overhead expenses.
 

Policy Change During the Middle of the Year
 

GST will go live three months into the financial year 2017-18. So, for FY 2017-18, business will follow the old tax structure for the first 3 months, and GST for the rest of the time. It is impossible to cross over from one tax structure to the other in just a day, and hence businesses will end up running both tax systems in parallel, which might result in confusion and compliance issues.
 

Online Procedure
 

GST compliance, return filing and payments all have to be done online. Many small businesses are not tech-savvy and do not have the resources for fully computerized compliance. Even as the rest of the nation gets ready to go digital, businesses in small cities across India face a huge technology problem in the days ahead. 
 

Cloud-based software like the ClearTax GST software could be an answer to this problem. This does not require any downloads, and the process for return filing on ClearTax GST is very simple. Business owners need only upload their invoices, and the software will populate the return forms automatically with the information from the invoices. Any errors in invoices will be clearly identified by the software in real-time thus increasing efficiency and timeliness. 
 

Higher Tax Burden for Manufacturing SMEs 
 

Small businesses in the manufacturing sector will not have it easy in the GST regime. Under the excise laws, only manufacturing business with a turnover exceeding Rs. 1.50 crores had to pay excise duty. Whereas, under GST the turnover limit has been reduced to Rs. 20 lakh, thus increasing the tax burden for many manufacturing SMEs. However, SMEs with a turnover of upto 75 lakhs can opt for the composition scheme and pay only 1% tax on turnover in lieu of GST and enjoy lesser compliances. The catch though is these businesses will then not be able to claim any input tax credit. The decision to choose between higher taxes or the composition scheme (and thereby no ITC) will be a tough one for many SMEs.
 

No clarity on tax holidays
 

Many manufacturers (textile, pharmaceutical, FMCG industries) enjoy tax holidays and state benefit schemes. There is still no notification regarding these benefits. This will mean increased costs for these industries, which will probably be passed on to the end consumers.
 

Disruption to Business 
 

Cloth merchants (unorganized) are going on strike to protest against GST. Eateries and drug shops in Chennai are also threatening to protest the regime change - and this is only the tip of the iceberg. In the coming days, we can expect to see more of these protests happening across the country and these will undoubtedly disrupt business. If there's any solace, it's in knowing that other countries who implemented GST never had it easy either. Malaysia recently introduced GST in 2014 and faced nationwide strikes and protests. How the Indian government will handle these events is left to be seen.
 

Conclusion
 

The government is trying to reduce the burden of compliance for businesses by relaxing the return filing requirements for the first two months post implementation. Also, the provisions of TCS on e-commerce and registration for online sellers have also been relaxed for the time being.
 

Change is definitely never easy. The government is trying to smoothen the road to GST. It is important to take a leaf from global economies that have implemented GST before us, and who overcame the teething troubles to experience the advantages of having a unified tax system and easy input credits.
 

Once GST is implemented, most of the current challenges of this move will be a story of the past. India will become a single market where goods can move freely and there will lesser compliances to deal with for businesses.