President nod to bills, stage set for GST rollout from July 1

New Delhi: The four key legislations on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Thursday received President Pranab Mukherjee’s nod, thus paving the way for the rollout of one-nation-one-tax regime from July 1.

The legislations namely the Central GST Act, 2017, the Integrated GST Act, 2017, the GST (Compensa-tion to States) Act, 2017, and the Union Territory GST Act, 2017, received the clearance from Rashtrapati Bhavan, official sources said.

These bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha on April 6 and by the Lok Sabha on March 29.

The GST, the biggest taxation reform since Indep-endence, will subsume Central excise, service tax, value added tax (VAT) and other local levies to create an uniform market.

The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, provides for the levy of the Central Goods and Services Tax by the Centre on the supply of goods and services within the boundary of a state.

Whereas, the Integrated GST Act deals with the levy of Integrated Goods and Services Tax by the Centre on inter-state supply of goods and services.

The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, provides for compensation to the states for the loss of revenue arising on account of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax.

The Union Territory GST Act makes a provision for levy and collection of tax on intra-state supply of goods, services or both by the Union Territories.

The GST rates are to be discussed by the GST council headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley on May 18-19.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley had in the Rajya Sabha last week said that the GST council, comprising finance ministers of Union and states, had agreed to take a decision on bringing real estate within the ambit of the new tax regime within a year of its rollout.