Govt introduces key GST bills in Lok Sabha; may pass in lower house by 29-30 March

Inching closer towards the target of implementing the key indirect tax reform Goods and Services tax (GST) by 1 July, the government has introduced the GST bills in Lok Sabha today. All the key C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the compensation law have been introduced in the Lok Sabha. These supplementary GST legislations could be taken up for discussion as early as 28 March. [caption id=“attachment_2769170” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. CNN-News18[/caption] According to the sources, the government is looking at passage of the GST Bills in the Lower House by 29 March or latest by 30 March. Then, these will move to the Rajya Sabha and this gives the government enough time to bring back any amendment adopted by the Upper House to the Lok Sabha. The amendments can either be rejected or incorporated by the Lok Sabha. The current session of Parliament ends on 12 April. Although the legislations will be introduced as Money Bills, the government wants discussion in both the Houses. The rollout of GST which will subsume excise, service tax, VAT and and other local levies. Once these Bills are cleared by Parliament, the states will then take the state GST (S-GST) Bill to their respective assemblies. S-GST has been prepared as a model of the central GST (C-GST), with each state incorporating state-specific exemptions. The integrated GST (I-GST) deals in taxation of inter-state movement of goods and services while the Union Territory GST (UT-GST) Bill covers taxation in UTs. The compensation law has been prepared to give a legislative backing to the Centre’s promise to compensate the states for 5 years for any revenue loss arising out of GST implementation. With PTI inputs