On Thursday i.e. April 6, 2017, the Rajya Sabha has passed four supplementary GST legislations without amendments by a voice vote as all parties were on board. The four Bills are as under:
- The Central Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017
- The Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017
- The Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Bill, 2017 and
- The Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill, 2017.
This step would be setting the stage for the Government to rollout the landmark Goods and Services Tax from July 1, 2017, to usher in the one-nation-one-tax regime. Now, State GST Bill will be presented in State Assemblies for their approval.
In this regard, the Hon'ble Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley said that "On 17-18 May we will give final approval to rules and rates; looks like it can be implemented from July 1," and further, adding, "There would be hurdles or issues in implementation and those will be resolved by the GST council as soon as possible."
Further, Revenue Secretary, Mr. Hasmukh Adhia has said that "We are ready for implementing it from July. The law is ready, the rules have been finalised and are in public domain and our IT infrastructure is ready".
Source: Times of India, Business Today etc.
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