Thaindian News

Kolkata, June 28 (IANS) Citing constitutional amendments and other legislative procedures, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman S.D. Majumder Tuesday said the government’s plan to roll out the goods and services tax (GST) in April 2012 might be delayed.

Implementation of the GST would lead to a uniform goods and services tax regime across the country by unifying all central and state levies such as sales tax and excise.

“The process of constitutional amendment has a gestation period. It would also involve the recommendations of the stakeholders like the government at the centre, states and tax payers. Then it would be tabled in parliament and finally we will have the act,” Majumder said at an interactive session here on indirect taxes, organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

“The respective states will also have to pass their respective GST acts so there is a likelihood that the implementation might be delayed,” he said.

Majumder, however, assured that the central government and the CEBC were trying their best to put in place the new tax regime at the earliest.

Advocating for the new tax regime, he said GST implementation would broaden the assessee base by five-six times.

A strong information technology (IT) system is essential for ushering in GST, he said.

“For ensuring coordination between the centre, states and the assessees, a special purpose vehicle has been set up, called the GST Net, which will act as an interface for all the stakeholders,” said Majumder.

A GST council, comprising all state finance ministers and the union finance minister, had also been set up for making changes in the tax structure, he said.

“A GST Dispute Settlement Authority has also been created for settling disputes between states and the centre or between two or more different states,” added Majumder.