Goods & Services Tax: An Overview

Abstract

The Goods and Services Tax is the biggest indirect tax reform since 1947. This is levied on manufacture sale and consumption of goods and services. In the words of the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the GST bill will lead to the economic integration of India. The main function of the GST is to transform India into a uniform market by breaking the current fiscal barrier between states. Thus, the GST facilitates a uniform tax levied on goods and services across the country. The indirect tax system in India was complicated with overlapping taxes levied by the Centre and the State separately. Taxes such as excise duty, service, central sales tax, VAT (value added tax), entry tax or octroi have been subsumed by the GST under a single umbrella. So, this lecture is to know about GST, why it is needed? What are the main highlights of this bill? How it will work and how it will be beneficial? What will be the impact of this bill on Indian economy and also about the challenges before GST? All this steps would be clear through this lecture.