GST roll-out set for 1 July; Council meeting solves 99% issues

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Monday succeeded in breaking the deadlock over issues of administrative control over assessees and broadly agreed to a tentative 1 July roll-out of the GST, instead of the earlier deadline of 1 April.

Whether a state or the Centre will assess an entity would be decided by a computer programme. The Council also resolved a logjam over the right to tax economic activities within 12 nautical miles from India's coasts.

The GST Council meeting in Delhi on Monday managed to solve 99 per cent of issues relating to implementation of GST.

As per the discussions held on Monday, the states would have 90 per cent control over GST on businesses with a turnover of Rs1.50 crore or less. If the turnover is more than Rs1.50 crore, then the state and the Centre would have 50 per cent control each.

Except West Bengal all other states accepted this proposal, GST Council sources said.

Jaitley said in any case no assessee would be controlled by two authorities and there would be computer-based enforcement at both the centre and the states. Those assessees who fall under the integrated GST (IGST) - for the movement of goods and services between states - will also be administered by the centre and states, depending on their annual turnover (Rs1.5 crore, or more).