The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will decide on applicable tax rates for commodities on May 18, said M Vinod Kumar, Chief Commissioner of Central Excise here.

Addressing a workshop on GST, organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC), Kumar said, "In all probability, we will freeze the allocation of commodities into the agreed tax rates under the GST, which is widely expected to be rolled out post July 2017."

"While tax bands have been declared, the commodities allocation will be completed shortly. However, the declaration of the commodity-wise allocation will be done closer to the rollout date," he said.

He said the "general expectation is that rates are likely to be fixed as close to the existing aggregate incidence of tax for goods and services. There will also be a cess on sin goods and services which will be imposed on the small set of identified commodities."

On the preparedness of GST network, Kumar said beginning May 1, the government has initiated the GSTN trial run. He said "a few thousand GSTN trial runs have already begun and that is the reason why the registration for the GSTN system has been put on hold for a short period."

Kumar said "If GSTN is not in place and adequately tested, smooth integration of the GST law may be very difficult. Substantial migration and integration work has already been completed."

Kumar added that with the introduction of the GST, the industry would benefit immensely.

 11 May 2017, 05:21 AM