India is moving consistently towards the new indirect taxation system, and all the legislative authorities in the country are taking numerous effective actions so as to formulate an effective GST framework that can ensure comprehensive growth. Amidst all the news related to implementation of GST, there are various concerns that businesses have outlined. Some businesses in the country have claimed that the country is not entirely prepared to embrace GST; therefore, government and concerned authorities should first of all take crucial actions in that regard before rolling out GST in India.
There are various concerns that businesses have outlines pertaining to GST, and this blog would talk about four of them.
Lack of IT infrastructure: This is the gravest concern that experts and businesses have outlines as it relates to preparation for GST regime. It is so true that during the GST regime, compliance and tax filing functions would be totally automated. The government has even envisioned the concept of GST Network that would help the taxpayers, businesses, and traders in the country file returns, make payments, claim refund, and track ledgers through the common portal. However, in order to ensure successful implementation of GST regime, it must be ensured that all the businesses in the country have robust IT infrastructure. This certainly looks a distant task, and even GST Bill latest news across various channels do not shed much light on this topic. Therefore, experts want government to pay attention to IT infrastructure first before rolling out the GST.
No special attention to small businesses:It is so true that when government or other competent authorities would induce some new law provisions and/or modifications in order to make the overall GST Act more competent, then large enterprises would try to re-structure their overall business functions and compliance strategies as soon as possible. As the government has introduced the concept of GST compliance rating as well, it must be understood that large scale enterprises would respond to the readily changing taxation environment in the most dexterous manner. Herein, small and medium sized business firms would face lots of problem associated with non-compliance. Therefore, experts want the government to revisit their plans and add special provisions for small businesses. Such business-friendly GST rules would help all the MSMEs and SMEs in India compete with big players with utmost ease. On the flipside, lack of such provisions would make it a bit difficult for MSMEs and SMEs to survive.
No discrete plan on training accounting professionals:This is yet another grave concern that tax experts, business analysts, and even seasoned economists have outlined. They think that in order to ensure success of GST regime across India, it is quite important to ensure that all the businesses and taxpayers have actually understood how GST would influence their performance. Not only this, it is also necessary to ensure that accounting professionals, including chartered accountants, company secretaries, and cost accountants, across the country understand all the ways in which GST would call for radical shift in compliance strategies. Earlier, the government had not shown much interest in this regard; however, they have started taking some crucial actions recently. As per GST Bill latest news, various government agencies have started rolling out training sessions on GST. Businesses feel that the government should proactively start training accounting professionals before rolling out the new indirect taxation framework.
Robustness of common portal still unknown:Last but not the least, government should take some fast actions so as to check the robustness of common GST portal. The government has unquestionably appointed expert ITeS companies and accounting firms that would manage and monitor all the interactions between taxpayers and the portal, but experts feel that the government has failed to take any action as it relates to verifying the robustness of the common portal. As per new GST rules, taxpayers have to perform all compliance functions through the common portal. Therefore, businesses feel that it is necessary to check the robustness of this portal before GST gets implemented. Not only this, experts also want government to roll out a trial period of the portal for all taxpayers so that they can understand all the functionalities.
In short, experts have warned government that if it would not pay attention to these concerns outlined by the business fraternity in India, then it would become a challenging task to ensure successful implementation of GST.