SHOMA PATNAIK | NT
PANAJI : Commissioner of commercial taxes Deepak Bandekar, who attended a crucial meeting of the Goods and Service Tax Council in the national capital, said on Tuesday that Goa will not lose out on revenue after the rollout of GST from July 2017.
He said, “The discussions at the council meeting indicate that the state stands to gain after the new tax regime is implemented.”
The gain in revenue is likely to be from higher share in service tax, although the ratio of sharing has been under discussion, he said
Clarifying the air over impact of radical tax reform on the state income, Bandekar said that manufacturing states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, etc may lose revenue but Goa as a consuming state will benefit from the forthcoming tax.
Goa’s preparedness for GST has been on track, he said informing that of the total 26,000 dealers about 63 per cent have migrated to the GST network.
The national average of GST migration is 66 per cent. “Several dealers are below the Rs 20 lakh per annum turnover threshold and they are in the tourism industry where the business is seasonal,” Bandekar said explaining Goa’s slightly lower migration rate compared to the national average.
The last date for dealers to shift to the GST network has been extended to March 31 2017.
The GST Council meeting took place on Monday when four draft laws needed for implementation of the tax were approved by the Union cabinet.
These draft laws need to be tabled in the Parliament and then passed by individual states to come into effect.
“Goa’s transition to the single-tax system could have some minor issues in the first year of the tax implementation… there could be some teething problems but not a hurdle,” he stated.
Officials in the commercial tax department said the GST rollout is going to be the biggest adjustment in the tax system. It will change the way how people run businesses and also bring down paperwork as the tax administration is totally online.
It may even result in physical cleanup of the clutter in the department as bulky files could be a thing of the past, they said.
Some 10-15 taxes, including luxury, entertainment, entry tax, etc., will merge into a single tax. In Goa, the tax is expected to affect all industries including real estate and tourism.
Goa will gain from increased allocation in service tax collection.
At present, service tax is collected by the Centre and states get a share. Post-GST it will be collected by states and sharing percentage is set to change.
