The Centre and States are initiating outreach programmes with industry associations to get their inputs on the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“The Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers will meet industry and trade representatives on August 30 to get their inputs on the model GST law,” said a person close to the development.
Industry associations including Confederation of Indian Industry will attend the meeting, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Union Finance Ministry and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) are also starting similar meetings with trade and business associations.
“The Finance Ministry has called a series of meetings with trade and industry representatives this week to get their suggestions on the model law and also discuss their concerns on the new tax system,” said another official, adding that more discussions at field level will take place over the next few months.
With the Constitution Amendment Bill for GST approved by Parliament earlier this month, the Centre is hoping to roll out the indirect tax levy from April 1, 2017.
The Union Finance Ministry and States now have to finalise Bills for Centre GST, State GST and Integrated GST and have these passed by the Parliament and respective assemblies.
The Empowered Committee had released the draft Model GST law for comments in June. Since then, an internal committee is also reviewing the suggestions.
Apart from the short time span for the implementation of GST, industry is also worried about the tax rates under the new regime, control of small businesses and IT systems.
Weekly review meetings:
To review the preparedness of GST, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has also begun taking weekly progress meetings with the CBEC and the Revenue Department.
“The IT preparedness and cadre re-structuring issues are being discussed,” said another official.