Dual GST
Both Centre and States will simultaneously levy GST across the value chain. Tax will be levied on every supply of goods and services. Centre would levy and collect Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), and States would levy and collect the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all transactions within a State. The input tax credit of CGST would be available for discharging the CGST liability on the output at each stage. Similarly, the credit of SGST paid on inputs would be allowed for paying the SGST on output. No cross utilization of credit would be permitted.
Inter-State Transactions and the IGST
The Centre would levy and collect the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on all inter-State supply of goods and services. The IGST mechanism has been designed to ensure seamless flow of input tax credit from one State to another. The inter-State seller would pay IGST on the sale of his goods to the Central Government after adjusting credit of IGST, CGST and SGST on his purchases (in that order). The exporting State will transfer to the Centre the credit of SGST used in payment of IGST. The importing dealer will claim credit of IGST while discharging his output tax liability (both CGST and SGST) in his own State. The Centre will transfer to the importing State the credit of IGST used in payment of SGST.
Destination-Based Consumption Tax: GST will be a destination-based tax. This implies that all SGST collected will ordinarily accrue to the State where the consumer of the goods or services sold resides.
Central Taxes to be subsumed
- Central Excise Duty
- Additional Excise Duty
- The Excise Duty levied under the Medicinal and Toiletries Preparation Act
- Service Tax
- Additional Customs Duty, commonly known as Countervailing Duty (CVD)
- Special Additional Duty of Customs-4% (SAD)
- Cesses and surcharges in so far as they relate to supply of goods and services.
State Taxes to be subsumed
- VAT/Sales Tax
- Central Sales Tax (levied by the Centre and collected by the States)
- Entertainment Tax
- Octroi and Entry Tax (all forms)
- Purchase Tax
- Luxury Tax
- Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling
- State cesses and surcharges in so far as they relate to supply of goods and services.
Rates of GST with band
GST rates will be uniform across the country. However, to give fiscal autonomy to the States and the Centre, there will a provision of a tax band over and above the rate of the floor rates of CGST, SGST and IGST. Initially, the rates of CGST, SGST and IGST are expected to be closely aligned to the Revenue Neutral Rates (RNR) of the Centre and the States.
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN)
A not-for-profit, Non-Government Company called Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), jointly set up by the Central and State Governments will provide shared IT infrastructure and services to the Central and State Governments, tax payers and other stakeholders.