GST to complete 4 yrs tomorrow; Finance Ministry says '66 crore GST returns filed so far'

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Thursday will complete 4 years of operation. Hailed as the single-biggest tax reform, the GST was rolled out with a gong in a special session of Parliament on July 1, 2017, and subsumed 17 existing indirect taxes including the excise duty and sales tax.

The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in Parliament on 29th March 2017 and came into effect on 1st July 2017. In other words, Goods and Service Tax (GST) is levied on the supply of goods and services.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday took to her official Twitter handle and said that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Thursday completed 4 years. Informing that it is now widely acknowledged that GST is both consumer and Taxpayer friendly, the Finance Minister said that the lower rates under GST helped to increase tax compliance. "More than 66 crore GST returns have been filed so far," it added. 

Finance Minister on GST completing 4 years

The Finance Ministry said, "With the continuous simplification of procedures and rationalization of rate structures so as to make GST compliance easy for the common man as well as the trade, we have been able to achieve economic integration of the country with a humane touch." The Ministry further said that GST has replaced the complex indirect tax structure with a simple, transparent, and technology-driven tax regime and has thus integrated India into a single common market.

The Finance Ministry further informed that businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh are exempted from GST returns (for goods). Stating that initially, this limit was Rs 20 lakh, the Ministry said that those businesses with a turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore can opt for the Composition Scheme and pay only 1 per cent tax (for goods). "For services and businesses with turnover up to Rs 20 lakh in a year are GST exempt. A service provider having turnover up to Rs 50 lakh in a yeat can opt for Composition Scheme for services and pay only 6 per cent tax," it added. 

(Image: PTI-Representative)