Bengaluru, Oct 6: Traders cutting across various sectors on Thursday sought that no penalties be imposed on them till March 31 next year for errors in the filing of Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns as they are yet to get accustomed to the new tax regime.
Participating in an interactive session on GST organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) and the Economic Cell of the BJP, the traders stated that the GST law is new and there were possibilities of mistakes being made during the initial phase of implementation.
Besides, the filing of GST returns should be made easy as the micro, small and medium enterprises sector is not well equipped with Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and qualified manpower.
Tax relaxation sought
FKCCI President K Ravi sought some relaxation, at least for small traders, from filing monthly returns. “The time involved on filing returns on a monthly basis is enormous. There is a drop in business to the tune of 50% to 60% because the trader is not able of concentrate on business,” Ravi said.
B T Manohar, chairman, State Taxes Committee, FKCCI, said that traders and representatives from the industry do not find a place in the GST Council.
“A steering committee comprising the trade and industries along with government officials should be constituted. The panel should meet every two months and address all issues arising at the grassroot while implementing the new tax regime,” he said.
Former FKCCI president S Sampathraman said the GST rules were “draconian” and “unimplementable”. “In the name of preventing tax evasion, honest business persons are suffering,” he felt.
BJP Economic Cell convenor S Vishwanath Bhat admitted there were several glitches in implementation of the GST regime but they are all temporary. “GST will help India in building a robust economy by 2019,” Bhat said.
BJP leader and Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan said he will place before the GST Council, which is meeting in New Delhi on Friday, the various issues raised by the traders.
Welcoming the move Dr Arathi Krishna told coastaldigst.com that Indians stranded in any foreign country can utilize this facility. "Initially, I was approached by Mr Zakaria and Mr Sheik who wanted chartered flights to help their employees fly back to India. I asked them to write to the Indian Ambassador in Saudi Araia Mr Ausaf Sayeed. Then I requested the ambassador to forward the request to Joint Secretary Dr Nagendra Prasad, who is in charge of gulf division in the Ministry of External Affairs, and then to Secretary on charge of Gulf and then I requested Secretary of Economic Relations Mr T S Tirumurti who was also in charge of Gulf to follow this up," she said.
Comments
I am small businessman my turnover is less than 12 lacs and my crime is I do interstate sales because of this GST is applicable to me in spite of being such a small turnover and i use to file my returns by myself (without any CA or accountant) because i cannot afford one it is very difficult for me to maintain all these GST, and i suggests government should specify a limit of interstate sale slab for GST eligibility.
A land mark event in the history of our Nation.Full marks to Jetly and the GST Council. This one policy change will transform our Nation and its economy.
This govt puts thought process and hence we are able to get long time pending benefits in this short three years .Keep up the good work.
Why so hurry when infrastructure yet to settle.
This hurry exercises only for the the behest of the economic reforms, to compete with the global economic day to day trends.
can someone tell me what will happen if some states refuse to implement GST and how the transactions will happen in to and out of these States?
Nothing is clear about the GST rates for Protein based food supplement industry. These supplements are a COMPOSITE BLEND of various raw proteins such as skimmed Milk, whey, egg, pulses 7 cereals. Each of these ingredients are having varying rates of GST starting from 5% to 18%.These supplements are consumed by Atheletes who in majority belong to the low and middle income. We request the Government to please consider the fact that these products are mainly manufactured by small scale manufacturers and sold to the low/middle income. It is an unregualted market. OUR REQUEST IS TO PLEASE FIX A GST RATE BETWEEN 12% & 18%
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