GST to become law soon

The Odisha assembly approved the Constitutional Amendment Bill for Goods and Services Tax (GST) and became the 16th state to pass the GST Bill. With the approval from Odisha assembly, the requirement of 50 per cent of states and union territories ratifying it has been completed. The bill will now be placed before the President, Pranab Mukherjee for approval.

India has 29 states and two union territories with legislature, so at least 16 states are required to ratify the bill before it can be sent to the President. Other states that have approved the bill are Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, machal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Nagaland.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST was passed by Parliament on August 8. The government is planning to roll out the indirect tax regime from April 1, 2017. Meanwhile, the Centre has to draft the CGST and IGST laws, and the states will have to come up with an SGST law.

During upcoming winter session of the Parliament, a detailed GST law will be worked out and also rate that will be applied. GST Council in which the Centre has one-third weight and the states two-thirds, will work out the details of the law.