The transition to GST: Early feedback brings adjustments

When goods and services tax (GST) was implemented on 1 July, after years of delays, there was apprehension as to how corporate India would handle the transition to the new tax regime. However, most companies and other assessees started doing business quickly and were able to issue tax invoices.

The key challenge has been meeting the first set of compliance requirements. The government had delayed the filing of the first set of monthly returns by one month (i.e. July supplies to be reported in September rather than August) except for a summarized version called the GSTR-3B. Both the government and taxpayers will understand the implications of GST implementation once these forms are processed.

Even as GST is adopted, the government continues to review and monitor the impact of GST on various sectors and is welcoming input for improvements and anomalies. GST Council meetings are being held on a regular basis to address various issues including GST rates. Based on such input, the GST rates in respect of several services were discussed in the 20th GST Council meeting, held on 5 August. In the light of decisions taken in this meeting, the government published various notifications on 22 August. Highlights of the changes are discussed below.

L Badri Narayanan is a partner and Geetika Srivastava is a joint partner at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan.