On the second day of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation across the country, the Revenue Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Hasmukh Adhia took to Twitter to dispel what he said were the seven myths on GST.
Later, he responded to questions on GST. He particularly targeted the message going around on social media and messenger services that if you make payments of utility bills by credit cards, you will be paying GST twice. “This is completely untrue. Please do not recirculate such message without checking it with authority,” he tweeted.
Here are the ‘myths’ and the ‘realities’ as explained by Mr. Adhia.
Myth 1: I need to generate all invoices on computer/internet only.
Reality 1: Invoices can be generated manually also.
Myth 2: I need internet all the time to do business under GST.
Reality 2: Internet would be needed only while filing monthly return of GST
Myth 3: I have provisional ID but waiting for final ID to do business.
Reality 3: Provisional ID will be your final GSTIN number. Start business.
Myth 4: My item of trade was earlier exempt so I will immediately need new registration before starting a business now.
Reality 4: You can continue doing business and get registered within 30 days.
Myth 5: There are three returns per month to be filed.
Reality 5: There is only one return with three parts, out of which first part filed by dealer and two other parts auto-populated by computer.
Myth 6: Even small dealers will have to file invoice-wise details in the return.
Reality 6 : Those in retail business (B2C) need to file only summary of total sales.
Myth 7: New GST rates are higher compared to earlier VAT.
Reality 7 : It appears higher because excise duty and other taxes which were invisible earlier are now subsumed in GST and so visible now.
