GST stands for Goods and Services Tax; it is an Indirect Tax which
consolidated all the taxes which the State and Central government
levied. It was introduced in India in July 2017. It is divided into slabs-
0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. The exceptions from this tax are
petroleum products, alcoholic beverages and electricity, which still
follow the old taxation system and vary from state to state.
Advantages of GST
Goods and Services Tax had proved to be advantageous in various
ways to the consumer, the seller and the government.
Customer’s Benefits
- Solved the problem of Cascading Taxes, which is the addition of
taxes at each stage of manufacture leading to inflation.
- Uniformity of prices makes the market equal for all members of
society in all parts of the country.
- Before GST was introduced the tax rate for goods was around
26.5%, but now after GST implementation, the majority of
market goods have a tax of approximately 18%.
- GST indirectly also reduced the travel time in interstate
movement during the chain of supply by 20% due to the disbanding
of check posts.
- Tracking of taxes has become easy since it works on a
computerized system.
Sellers’ Benefits
- The higher turnover limits for GST allowed small scale
businesses and service providers to be exempted from paying
GST.
- The Composition Scheme introduced under GST reduced taxes
and increased tax compliance. Business owners registered
under this scheme pay a fixed tax percentage of their turnover
and only need to file one quarterly return.
- Businesses with an annual turnover of Rs. 50 Lakhs pay GST of
6% instead of 18%.
- GST registration and return filing can all be done online, in
contrast to pre-GST years when one business would need to be
registered under various taxes.
- The number of compliances has decreased because the number
of Indirect Taxes has been reduced to one, GST. The return
filing has also been unified and adopted to suit only GST.
- E-commerce brands like Flipkart and Amazon can experience
hassle-free transport of goods inter-state due to the removal of
VAT restrictions whose rules were different in some states.
- Reduction in unnecessary logistics costs and the removal of
interstate travel restrictions are increasing the profits for
businesses in the supply of goods.
- Largely unregulated industries like textile and construction
have been organized after the implementation of GST. There
are provisions for availing input credit only after the amount
has been accepted, this has brought in regulation into the
industries.
Government’s Benefits
- The transparent and accountable market formed by GST
promotes Indian products internationally and attracts foreign
investments.
- Through GST the government was able to broaden the tax base
as well as increase tax compliance.
- The import, export, and investment sectors are booming which
in turn help the country by boosting the economy and
generating more employment opportunities.
- The uniformity of taxes and prices across states helps the
Indian economy as a whole instead of just the states.
Disadvantages of GST
Although the introduction of GST was sudden it was well
implemented. But there are a few problems to its implementation
which caused some problems for the sellers and businesses.
Cost of Software Purchase- Businesses had to discard the pre-
existing software and purchase new GST- compliant software.
The extra time is taken to train the employees for using the
same also led to losses and increased costs.
Increase in Operational Costs- Since GST changed the entire
method of paying taxes the companies have to hire
professionals to sort out the taxation problems and make the
company GST compliant, which leads to an increase in
overhead costs.
GST was introduced in the middle of the financial year- Due to
this companies couldn’t manage both the new taxation
methods and the old ones which caused them to run parallel
which caused a lot of confusion and GST compliance issues.
Get Your GST Registration Now!
The GST registration benefits are many which we have explained above. For further
information, you can visit our website for GST registration, where we have put up all
the information which is required for you to get a GSTIN Number for your business.
We are one of the most trustworthy GST registration consultancy company to get
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