GST rollout postponed till July 1: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said that the Centre and the states have come to a consensus on dual control of the goods and service tax (GST) and the bill is most likely to be rolled out on July 1, instead of earlier target of April 1, 2017.

Addressing the media persons here after the ninth meeting of the GST council headed by him, Jaitley said that the postponement had been made as it would require time to finalise the GST draft legislation and rules and its passage by state legislatures.

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What else Arun Jaitley said?

• The broad consensus is that the first of July appears to be a more realistic date of rolling out GST.
• Besides, industry and trade also have to be given adequate notice to prepare for GST.
• Decision has been arrived at on the cross-empowerment and dual control issue of GST.
• The entire taxation base is to be shared between assessment machinery of Centre and states.
• As per the understanding between the Centre and states, 90 per cent of the GST taxpayers with up to Rs 1.5 crore turnover will be assessed by states, while 10 per cent will be assessed by the central government.
• As far as those above Rs 1.5 crore turnover is concerned, the assessment will be done on a 50:50 basis between the Centre and states.

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The states have been asking for exclusive control over the businesses with turnover below Rs 1.5 crore, including the service taxpayers.