Context:

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) felicitated around 54,000 taxpayers to mark the competition of 4 years of Goods and Services Tax (GST).

About Goods and Services Tax

• The GST is a value-added tax levied on most goods and services sold for domestic consumption.
• The GST is paid by consumers, but it is remitted to the government by the businesses selling the goods and services.
• GST subsumed almost all domestic indirect taxes (petroleum, alcoholic beverages, and stamp duty are the major exceptions) under one head.
• It was launched into operation on the midnight of 1st July 2017.

GST Council

• It forms GST Council, which is a constitutional body (Article 279A) for making recommendations to the Union and State Government on issues related to GST.
• The GST Council is chaired by the Union Finance Minister.
  • Other members are the Union State Minister of Revenue or Finance and Ministers in charge of Finance or Taxation of all the States.
• It is considered as a federal body where both the center and the states get due representation.

Achievements of GST

• Automated Indirect Tax Ecosystem.
• Simplification of Compliance.
• India has served as an example to the world by successfully implementing one of the most complex tax transformation projects for the country.

Features of GST

• Applicable on Supply Side
• Destination based Taxation
• Dual GST
• GST rates to be mutually decided
• Multiple Rates

Taxpayers in India

• 54,439 taxpayers have been identified in the country.
• More than 88% of these taxpayers are from Micro (36%), Small (41%), and Medium enterprises (11%).