GST is knocking on the door, is your business ready?
Although the NDA government is confident about rolling out GST from July 1, small businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs still need time to get their affairs in order and get GST-ready. Recent CA Club India study found that out of the 1,100 respondents, only 38% were ready for GST; while others are still in varying degrees of preparedness. Here's a brief walk-through on all-things-GST.
What is under the purview?
Under new tax regime; any enterprise or individual, selling goods or providing services of more than Rs. 20 lakh in a fiscal year, must get GST registered. This limit has been brought down to Rs. 10 lakh for North East states, and enterprises engaged in inter-state supplies and e-commerce supplies also have to register. Businesses registered under present taxation schemes also need to migrate.
Exemption and aftermath
It is to be noted that, although, enterprises which have less than an annual Rs. 20 lakh turnover are exempted from the GST net, businesses that will avail services or goods from these firms will have to bear this exempted compliance brunt. This is something that they may not be comfortable with and chances are, they will opt for GST compliant providers.
Getting your businesses registered
To get registered for GST, one needs to log into GST Common Portal (https://www.gst.gov.in) and submit the necessary documents. In case someone doesn't want to go through the trouble, there are several online portals that charge a basic fee to get things sorted for business owners and service providers. Some are even providing cloud-based end-to-end software that would help in filing GST returns.
Taxation under the composition scheme
Typically a business will be filing 3 returns per month and one annual return for every state it conducts business from, under GST. Under the composition scheme; any business, that has a turnover under Rs. 50 lakh, can opt for a presumptive tax of 0.5-2.5%. This scheme is, however, only available for manufacturers and certain service providers
What are you waiting for?
GST registration will go on until 15th June. Flouting GST taxation will attract a fine of 10% on the total due amount if it is more than Rs. 10,000, 100% in case of fraud or deliberate attempt to evade taxation. Another important aspect is, the assigning of Compliance Rating Score to show the companies' performance under GST regime, which will affect future business prospects.
