# Business

Special Parliament session on GST likely

Anjul Tomar | New Delhi | December 14, 2016 3:35 pm

In a last ditch effort to ensure the roll out of India's biggest tax reform Goods and Services Tax (GST)  from April 1, 2017, the government is thinking of convening a short two- day special session of the Parliament, sources said. The GST Council, on Sunday, had failed to get the consensus on the issue of the distribution of administrative powers for collection of taxes, ruling out the possibility of the GST bill getting passed in the winter session which ends this Friday. the issue of the distribution of administrative powers for collection of taxes, ruling out the possibility of the GST bill getting passed in the winter session which ends this Friday.
It  is, however, not clear whether the next Council meeting slated December 22 and 23, will be able to resolve it. Government had earlier wanted to pass it in the winter session of the Parliament. But due of differences over the contentious issue of sharing of administrative powers between the centre and the states, the Council did not agree and the meeting had to be rescheduled.
Any firm move on calling the special session will depend on whether the GST Council is able to resolve the issue in the next meeting.  But the government is hopeful of pushing through one of its most ambitious reform. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the GST was expected to be implemented by 2017 while addressing Asian Business Leaders' Conclave through video conferencing. Earlier in the day, Home Minister Rajnath Singh also said he was hopeful of the GST from April 2017 despite some hurdles.  
So far, the Centre and the states have failed to finalise the legislation as the dual control issue between the states and the centre could not be sorted.
The government wanted to table the central GST bill, the integrated GST bill and the state GST bill for compensating states for revenue losses in the winter session.  Having missed the target, the government is now exploring the possibility of a short two-day session before the budget session which is likely to starton January 30 or 31. The budget is likely to be presented on Feb 1. 
The GST legislation has to be passed by the Parliament early as its implementation may take time. The states also have to pass the state GST bill before it can be rolled out from April. Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had cited constitutional compulsion to have GST in place before September 16, 2017. GST is slated to be implemented from April, next year, well before September when all the existing indirect taxes will come to an end.  
Delay in the GST is likely to have a negative impact on the country's economy, according to S&P Global Ratings.

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# Business

GST Council to discuss crucial issue of dual control on Friday

GST Council to discuss crucial issue of dual control on Friday

 (19:02) 

New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS) The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will on Friday, the second day of its ongoing seventh meet, discuss the vexed issue of cross empowerment or dual control of assessee jurisdiction under the pan-India indirect tax regime, said informed sources.

"The issue of dual control is laid out in the agenda of this ongoing seventh Council meet. It will be discussed tomorrow (day-two)," Finance Ministry sources told IANS.

The solution to the critical issue has eluded consensus over six previous meetings of the GST Council.

Day one of the two-day Council meet ended on Thursday with no discussion on dual control but discussed the GST bills, the source added.

The three GST bills - Central GST (cGST), Integrated GST and State Compensation Law - need to be approved by the Council before they can be tabled in the Parliament. 

The deadlock on the issue in the GST Council has raised questions on the targeted implementation date of April 1, 2017 for the indirect tax regime. 

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been emphasising that the luxury of time is not available for the GST implementation for the reason that if April 1, 2017, is the first possible day it can be implemented, then the last date also is constitutionally defined as September 16, 2017.

"So the discretion as to when to implement is only five months and 16 days and that's why we don't have the luxury of time because after five months, the curtains will come down on the old taxation powers," Jaitley had said earlier.

With a serious question mark over the April 1 target, now that the legislations could not be tabled in the winter session, the plan appears to be to have GST come into force by default when the time given by the constitutional amendment will automatically expire for roll out of the new indirect tax regime.