Goods & Services Tax is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that will be levied on every value addition. To understand this, we need to understand the concepts under this definition. Let us start with the term ‘Multi-stage’. Now, there are multiple steps an item goes through from manufacture or production to the final sale. Buying of raw materials is the first stage. The second stage is production or manufacture. Then, there is the warehousing of materials. Next, comes the sale of the product to the retailer. And in the final stage, the retailer sells you – the end consumer – the product, completing its life cycle.a
Goods and Services Tax will be levied on each of these stages, which makes it a multi-stage tax. How? We will see that shortly, but before that, let us talk about ‘Value Addition’.
Let us assume that a manufacturer wants to make a shirt. For this he must buy yarn. This gets turned into a shirt after manufacture. So, the value of the yarn is increased when it gets woven into a shirt. Then, the manufacturer sells it to the warehousing agent who attaches labels and tags to each shirt. That is another addition of value after which the warehouse sells it to the retailer who packages each shirt separately and invests in marketing of the shirt thus increasing its value.
| Return Form | What to file? | By Whom? | By When? |
| GSTR-1 | Details of outward supplies of taxable goods and/or services effected | Registered Taxable Supplier | 10th of the next month |
| GSTR-2 | Details of inward supplies of taxable goods and/or services effected claiming input tax credit. | Registered Taxable Recipient | 15th of the next month |
| GSTR-3 | Monthly return on the basis of finalization of details of outward supplies and inward supplies along with the payment of amount of tax. | Registered Taxable Person | 20th of the next month |
| GSTR-4 | Quarterly return for compounding taxable person. | Composition Supplier | 18th of the month succeeding quarter |
| GSTR-5 | Return for Non-Resident foreign taxable person | Non-Resident Taxable Person | 20th of the next month |
| GSTR-6 | Return for Input Service Distributor | Input Service Distributor | 13th of the next month |
| GSTR-7 | Return for authorities deducting tax at source. | Tax Deductor | 10th of the next month |
| GSTR-8 | Details of supplies effected through e-commerce operator and the amount of tax collected | E-commerce Operator/Tax Collector | 10th of the next month |
| GSTR-9 | Annual Return | Registered Taxable Person | 31st December of next financial year |
| GSTR-10 | Final Return | Taxable person whose registration has been surrendered or cancelled. | Within three months of the date of cancellation or date of cancellation order, whichever is later. |
| GSTR-11 | Details of inward supplies to be furnished by a person having UIN | Person having UIN and claiming refund | 28th of the month following the month for which statement is filed |
GST is one indirect tax for the whole nation, which will make India one unified common market.
GST is a single tax on the supply of goods and services, right from the manufacturer to the consumer. Credits of input taxes paid at each stage will be available in the subsequent stage of value addition, which makes GST essentially a tax only on value addition at each stage. The final consumer will thus bear only the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the previous stages.
At the Central level, the following taxes are being subsumed
At the State level, the following taxes are being subsumed
Keeping in mind the federal structure of India, there will be two components of GST – Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST). Both Centre and States will simultaneously levy GST across the value chain. Tax will be levied on every supply of goods and services. Centre would levy and collect Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), and States would levy and collect the State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) on all transactions within a State. The input tax credit of CGST would be available for discharging the CGST liability on the output at each stage. Similarly, the credit of SGST paid on inputs would be allowed for paying the SGST on output. No cross utilization of credit would be permitted.
The Central GST and the State GST would be levied simultaneously on every transaction of supply of goods and services except on exempted goods and services, goods which are outside the purview of GST and the transactions which are below the prescribed threshold limits. Further, both would be levied on the same price or value unlike State VAT which is levied on the value of the goods inclusive of Central Excise.
Cross utilization of credit of CGST between goods and services would be allowed. Similarly, the facility of cross utilization of credit will be available in case of SGST. However, the cross utilization of CGST and SGST would not be allowed except in the case of inter-State supply of goods and services under the IGST model which is explained in answer to the next question.
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Easy compliance: A robust and comprehensive IT system would be the foundation of the GST regime in India. Therefore, all tax payer services such as registrations, returns, payments, etc. would be available to the taxpayers online, which would make compliance easy and transparent.
Uniformity of tax rates and structures: GST will ensure that indirect tax rates and structures are common across the country, thereby increasing certainty and ease of doing business. In other words, GST would make doing business in the country tax neutral, irrespective of the choice of place of doing business
Removal of cascading: A system of seamless tax-credits throughout the value-chain, and across boundaries of States, would ensure that there is minimal cascading of taxes. This would reduce hidden costs of doing business
Improved competitiveness: Reduction in transaction costs of doing business would eventually lead to an improved competitiveness for the trade and industry.
Gain to manufacturers and exporters: The subsuming of major Central and State taxes in GST, complete and comprehensive set-off of input goods and services and phasing out of Central Sales Tax (CST) would reduce the cost of locally manufactured goods and services. This will increase the competitiveness of Indian goods and services in the international market and give boost to Indian exports. The uniformity in tax rates and procedures across the country will also go a long way in reducing the compliance cost.