The Telangana Legislature on Sunday passed a legislation aimed at broadening the tax base and resulting in better tax compliance due to robust IT infrastructure.
The Telangana State Goods and Services Bill 2017 was introduced by Finance Minister Eatala Rajender during the special session of the Legislative Assembly.
The new Bill was introduced on the instructions of the GST Council which circulated a draft of the State GST which would confer power on the State Government to levy goods and services tax on the supply of goods and services or both which take place within the State.
The Bill had been introduced as the present tax system presented certain difficulties like complex indirect tax structure as a result of multiplicity of taxes at the Central and State levels that was ridden with hidden costs for trade and industry.There was no uniformity in the tax rates and structure across the country and there was cascading of taxes due to “tax on tax” as a result of which prices of goods and services were getting artificially inflated.
The new Bill would provide for levy of tax on all inter-State supplies of goods or services except for liquor and petroleum products. It also provide for establishment of an Authority for Advance Ruling in order to enable tax payer to seek binding clarity on taxation matters from the department.
