Cabinet approves four GST Bills, likely to meet July 1 target

The four bills to be tabled in the parliament are the Central Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The CGST Bill); the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The IGST Bill); the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The UTGST Bill); and the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017 (The Compensation Bill).

The above four Bills were earlier approved by the GST Council after thorough, clause by clause, discussion over 12 meetings of the Council held in the past six months.

The CGST Bill makes provisions for levy and collection of tax on intra-state supply of goods or services for both by the Central Government.

On the other hand, IGST Bill makes provisions for levy and collection of tax on inter-state supply of goods or services or both by the Central Government.

The UTGST Bill makes provisions for levy on collection of tax on intra-UT supply of goods and services in the Union Territories without legislature. Union Territory GST is akin to States Goods and Services Tax (SGST) which shall be levied and collected by the States/Union Territories on intra-state supply of goods or services or both.

The Compensation Bill provides for compensation to the states for loss of revenue arising on account of implementation of the goods and services tax for a period of five years as per section 18 of the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016.

The Government is committed to introduce GS as early as possible. 

GST Council has decided July 1 as the date of commencement of GST. 

The Finance Minister in his Budget Speech said that country-wide outreach efforts will be made to explain the provisions of GST to Trade and Industry.

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