Compliance with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime impacts companies in varying degrees. Typically, large companies and businesses have the bandwidth in terms of technology understanding, manpower and finances to get to speed and ensure compliance with game-changing regulations such as the GST.

On the other hand, small and medium businesses find it hard to cope.

Thankfully, a host of vendors and service providers — including accounting package providers, tax consultants, banks, consultancies, computer makers and depositories — have come up with GST packages to help such entities.

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Established names such as Tally, Taxmann, ClearTax, DCB Bank, Lenovo, KPMG, PwC, BDO, Lenovo, NSDL and H&R Block have come up with solutions that provide various GST-related functions, including integration with accounting software, invoice generation, reconciliations, returns filing and MIS reports.

Praveen Kutty, Head - Retail and SME Banking, DCB Bank says, “From shop owners and kirana-wallas to proprietorship, partnerships, SME and large companies, the DCB GST Package enables a business to manage the full scope of GST requirements.”

According to Tejas Goenka, Executive Director, Tally Solutions, SMEs will be well-served by adopting a reliable GST-ready software that is not only easy to use, but also offers a user-friendly interface.

“Tally’s latest release, Tally ERP 9 Release 6, focusses on maintaining accuracy of data through its unique error prevention, detection and correction capabilities both at the invoice and the tax return level,” Goenka said.

The packages offered by various vendors come at different price points, depending on the size and the complexity of the business and the offering.

ClearTax GST Software, for instance, offers its solution free of cost for SMEs, while for large enterprises, it is available at a cost that varies with the scale of operations and the degree of complexity.

DCB Bank offers its GST Current Account Package in association with GST-specialised application service providers.

The charges depend on the monthly average balance in the customer’s current account; the higher the balance, the lower the cost, and the better the benefits.

Tally’s ERP 9 solution costs ₹18,000 plus GST for single user and ₹54,000 plus GST for a multiple user set-up. Taxmann’s One Solution costs ₹8,500 per annum and 49 paise per invoice/transaction/return.

Lenovo has collaborated with Intel and three solution providers: Marg, IDOS and WeP Digital to offer GST-ready solutions across its notebook, desktop and tablet portfolio.

While Lenovo GST advantage computers start at ₹19,999 plus tax, MARG and WeP Digital offer free subscription for six months and IDOS charges ₹900 for 12 months.

The KPMG – HP GST Solution seeks to address the requirements of small firms for transitioning to a GST-compliant business.

The solution — including the laptop, dongle, two years of connectivity, cloud provisioning, GSP charges, eSign and GST support — is available to vendors and distributors at price points starting at ₹1,777 per month.

Offline versions too Some vendors also offer offline versions of their packages, which can be used in situations where the internet connectivity is slow.

Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, ClearTax, says, “ClearTax has a GST Bill Book, which can be used to prepare GST-compliant invoices for all types of sales and customers.”

For now, adds Gupta., this is free to use. “There is an offline version too of the GST bill book.,” he notes.

This tool, he says, helps those users who are not always connected to the internet.

“Lakhs of SMEs in smaller Indian towns, where internet access is an issue, can use this tool. It is suited for business owners who were working offline pre-GST,” he adds.

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