Some States are likely to get up to a year more to join the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime after its introduction on April 1, 2016. A transitional provision has been prescribed in the Constitution Amendment Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha last Friday.
“This (provision) is only to deal with the transitory situation. It is possible that some State or States on Day One (April 1, 2016) may not be fully prepared. Maybe their IT backbone is not ready or there is some procedural issue or local difficulty. In that case, instead of joining on April 1, they can join after two-three months or six months, but not later than one year,” Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das told BusinessLine .
One of the contentious issues is the threshold limit, as States want to keep it at ₹10 lakh, while the Centre wants a higher limit of, say, ₹25 lakh. Das said the GST Council (to be set up within 60 days from the enactment of Constitution Amendment Bill) will take a final call on this.
Explaining the need to revise the limit, he said, “₹10 lakh divided by 365 days will mean daily turnover of a particular trader or dealer at ₹2,700 gross. A gross daily turnover of ₹2,700 means every small tea shop owner, vegetable vendor or a corner shop will come under the purview of GST. Is that the intention of GST?” he said.