Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has assured exporters that the government will clear their pending GST refunds by end-November and over the next six months, no tax will be levied on exports as the GST Council has decided to revert to the pre-GST era.
Over July-August, an estimated Rs67,000 crore has accumulated as the Integrated GST (IGST), of which only about Rs5,000-10,000 crore will be due as refunds to exporters, Adhia reportedly said in an interview.
He pointed out that while no tax has to be paid on goods to be exported in the remaining months of the current fiscal, from April 1 next year an e-wallet service will be launched that will give exporters notional credits that can be used to pay GST. The credit in the wallet would be transferable.
Industry experts have applauded the GST council initiatives in easing the facilities for exporters and SMEs.
"With measures to ease liquidity for exporters, improving ease of compliance for small taxpayers, deferment of certain onerous provisions such as the e-way bill reverse charge, and rationalization of rates, including man-made yarns, the council meeting is a shot-in-the-arm for the economy," said Priyajit Ghosh, partner-indirect taxes at KPMG India.
"The latest GST Council meeting removed the reverse charge mechanism up to March 2018, which provides a short-term relief to SMEs," Crisil added.
"The levy of IGST has been exempted for six months for exporters on imports until further clarity is provided by the government. This indeed benefits various exporters who were required to pay IGST without proper justification for such levy," Rashmi Deshpande of Khaitan & Co said.
She also said deferment of e-way bill provisions till April 2018 is meaningful as this was under consideration for a very long time and the six-month window will allow the stakeholders to clearly understand the process.
Pratik Jain, indirect tax leader at PwC India, said though the threshold under composition scheme has been increased to Rs. 1 crore, to make this scheme really effective, it needs to be liberalized more by including all service providers and allowing them to undertake inter-state supplies.
Adhia soothes exporters' worries
By IndianMandarins - 2017-10-09 12:36:37
Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has assured exporters that the government will clear their pending GST refunds by end-November and over the next six months, no tax will be levied on exports as the GST Council has decided to revert to the pre-GST era.
Over July-August, an estimated Rs67,000 crore has accumulated as the Integrated GST (IGST), of which only about Rs5,000-10,000 crore will be due as refunds to exporters, Adhia reportedly said in an interview.
He pointed out that while no tax has to be paid on goods to be exported in the remaining months of the current fiscal, from April 1 next year an e-wallet service will be launched that will give exporters notional credits that can be used to pay GST. The credit in the wallet would be transferable.
Industry experts have applauded the GST council initiatives in easing the facilities for exporters and SMEs.
"With measures to ease liquidity for exporters, improving ease of compliance for small taxpayers, deferment of certain onerous provisions such as the e-way bill reverse charge, and rationalization of rates, including man-made yarns, the council meeting is a shot-in-the-arm for the economy," said Priyajit Ghosh, partner-indirect taxes at KPMG India.
"The latest GST Council meeting removed the reverse charge mechanism up to March 2018, which provides a short-term relief to SMEs," Crisil added.
"The levy of IGST has been exempted for six months for exporters on imports until further clarity is provided by the government. This indeed benefits various exporters who were required to pay IGST without proper justification for such levy," Rashmi Deshpande of Khaitan & Co said.
She also said deferment of e-way bill provisions till April 2018 is meaningful as this was under consideration for a very long time and the six-month window will allow the stakeholders to clearly understand the process.
Pratik Jain, indirect tax leader at PwC India, said though the threshold under composition scheme has been increased to Rs. 1 crore, to make this scheme really effective, it needs to be liberalized more by including all service providers and allowing them to undertake inter-state supplies.
