Goods and Services Tax - A Gateway to Rationalise Indirect Tax Ecosystem

Abstract

Goods and services tax, a milestone tax reform that happened in 2017 in India having a far-reaching impact on businesses and consumers with substantial simplifications of the complexities of the earlier indirect tax regime but still having a string of amendments, notifications, clarification circulars and series of GST Council meetings still under the cards to support the industry in the smooth implementation of these laws.

Valuation under GST is a critical and important aspect as the determination of the taxable value of supply forms the basis for payment of tax and levy under section 9 of the GST Act and GST is a tax payable on the value of supply which is determined as a taxable supply which forms the basis on which the percentage of tax rate is applied. The most important section in the Goods and Services Act in which the principles of valuations are outlined are section 15 of the Goods and Services Tax Act read with Determination of Value of Supply Rules 2017. This forms the basis for determining the taxable value of supply and collection of tax.