The Goods & Services Tax (GST) has changed how the country looks at taxation. Due to the completely new tax system, every business in the country was working hard to be ready for the new system before 1 July 2017. 

However, as the day drew close, many industries were not ready as far as implementation is concerned, and were hoping for an extension. However, the Government was determined to usher in the new tax regime and stuck to its original timeline. 

In our case, implementation was a team effort, wherein each and every individual from the top of the organisation to the bottom was assigned a specific task. A lot had to be done within a relatively short period but each one accepted it as a challenge and got things done on time. It was a hectic, yet smooth process. Having worked closely on GST, I have a few thoughts to share: 

Going forward, it is anticipated that prices will stabilise because of the anti-profiteering provisions under GST Law. However, we will have to wait for at least six months to understand the real impact. 

Benefits to consumers

1. Uniform pricing throughout the country

2. Simpler tax ssystem

3. Reduction in pricing, since cascading effect of taxation will get eliminated under GST 

Benefits to business

1. Reduction in multiplicity of taxes

2. Mitigation of cascading/ double taxation

3. Development of common national market

Challenges 

Most retailers faced challenges with the introduction of new invoicing requirements, which was supposed to be incorporated in the billing software. 

As a business, one will have to think about building processes for GST on stock transfer and GST on supply received from unregistered dealer. The basic challenge would be developing efficient systems, processes and policies for sales, purchases and warehousing among others. 

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Article contributed by Jayesh Patel for STOrai Magazine

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