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GST Collections may Help Beat Deficit Target: Goyal India is likely to improve upon the fiscal deficit target this fiscal year thanks to rising goods and services tax (GST) collections, finance minister Piyush Goyal said.  “There is a perception that the fiscal deficit will not be met, but I feel that we will actually do better than our budgeted fiscal deficit,” Goyal told reporters in the capital on Monday.  The fiscal deficit target was revised in the February budget to 3.3% for FY19 against the 3% that it had been pegged at previously. The government has already run up 55% of the budgeted fiscal deficit in the first two months of the financial year, raising worries in some quarters about a breach. The fiscal deficit stood at  Rs. 3.45 lakh crore in April-May. In the year-ago period, this was at 68.3% of the budget estimate as the government frontloaded spending.  Goyal’s optimism stems from improved GST collections. He expects them to cross Rs 13 lakh crore on the back of the

GST likely to get centralised AAR for uniform rulings India is looking at creating a centralised Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) for the goods and services tax (GST) after divergent rulings on identical issues fuelled confusion over applicability and the rate of tax. A recent case in point being the divergent rulings by Karnataka and Maharashtra AARs on the issue of solar projects.  “We are looking at an issuebased central authority with officials from states and the Centre,” a top government official told ET. “If more than one appeal is filed on the same issue in different jurisdictions it can be taken up by this body.” The AAR is a quasi-judicial body that allows assessees to get guidance on their potential tax liabilities relating to any transaction beforehand. The rulings by the AAR are case-specific, but they have a persuasive impact on tax assessment in cases of other firms under similar circumstances.  This is the key reason behind the government contemplating such a m

Govt likely to go slow on key anti-evasion measure under GST The implementation of the reverse charge mechanism is likely to be disruptive for small traders, a key electoral constituency of the ruling BJP, said two people familiar with the development The government is unlikely to insist on implementing the reverse charge mechanism, a key anti-evasion measure proposed under the goods and services tax (GST), on concerns that the rule will adversely impact small businesses while not yielding revenue gains.  The implementation of the reverse charge mechanism is likely to be disruptive for small traders, a key electoral constituency of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said two people familiar with the development. Instead, they said, alternative ways to curb tax evasion are being explored. Under the reverse charge mechanism, entities (registered under GST) that purchase goods from small unregistered dealers have to pay a tax on behalf of the latter. This is expected to add to the

Jaitley Hints at Rationalising GST Rates as Revenues Surge A STABILISED TAX REGIME A YEAR AFTER ROLLOUT June collections at Rs 95,610 crore, well above FY18 monthly average of Rs 89,885 crore India may soon be looking at rationalising goods and services tax (GST) rates as the year-old indirect tax regime stabilises, finance minister Arun Jaitley said, even as he dismissed the idea of a single rate that Congress president Rahul Gandhi has called for. Jaitley added that GST has helped expand the tax base, including that of direct taxes. India implemented GST on July 1 last year. “We will be busy in the process of shifting a large number of items from (the top rate of) 28% to the lower rate,” said Jaitley, who was addressing an event to mark one year of GST on Sunday via video link. “The weighted average of the total taxation basket has significantly come down and therefore we are in the process of rationalising the rates itself.” Data released on Sunday showed GST collections

GST Mopup Edges Closer to Rs 1 Lakh Crore  In a FB post, Jaitley says once revenue stabilises Council will look into tax simplification and including more products Goods and services tax (GST) collections rose further in June, raising the expectations of further rationalisation in the 28% slab as the mop-up moves closer to the ?1 lakh crore mark. India marked the first anniversary of GST on Sunday, with the government hailing one of the country’s most significant tax reforms since independence as a success. Data released by the government showed GST collection in June at Rs 95,610 crore, higher than Rs 94,016 crore in May and well above the monthly average of Rs 89,885 crore in the last financial year. “A steady and consistent increase in GST collections this financial year reflects the achievement of better tax compliance of GST,” said Abhis hek Jain, tax partner, EY India. Policymakers have repeatedly said that as GST revenues stabili se, the government will consider furthe

 At 3%, FDI inflows clocked slowest growth rate of last five years in FY18 According to experts, it is critical to revive domestic investments Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India seems to be petering out with the inflows growth rate recording a five-year low of 3 per cent at Dollar 44.85 billion in 2017-18. According to the latest data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), FDI in 2017-18 grew by only 3 per cent to Dollar44.85 billion. Foreign inflows in the country grew by 8.67 per cent in 2016-17, 29 per cent in 2015-16, 27 per cent in 2014-15, and 8 per cent in 2013-14. However, FDI inflows recorded a negative growth of 38 per cent in 2012-13. According to experts, it is critical to revive domestic investments and further ease of doing business in the country to attract foreign investors.   Depositories share companies' information with exchanges on FDI limits Anil Talreja, Partner, Deloitte India, said the low growth of FDI in the consum

Idea of single rate for GST 'flawed', says Arun Jaitley Observing that countries implementing GST had witnessed major disruption, Jaitley said he too had felt that it would cause disruption in the Indian economy Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said rollout the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has not been disruptive in the last one year and exuded confidence that higher revenue collections would enhance the capacity of the government to rationalise tax rates going forward. Speaking on the occasion of the first anniversary of the GST rollout, the minister stressed that the best in terms of the impact of new tax regime on the GDP growth, ease of doing business, expansion of trade and industry, Make in India initiative and promoting honest business practices was yet to come. He also dismissed the idea of a single rate GST being advocated by Congress president Rahul Gandhi as “flawed” saying that it can only work in a country where the entire population has 'similar