CBEC Chief confident GST bill will be passed in monsoon session

CHENNAI: The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairman Najib Shah is confident the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitutional Amendment Bill will be passed in the monsoon session of Parliament.

The GST will see rapid movement towards being enacted in the next few months, he said recently.

“We are prepared for GST. We are putting up a robust IT system and the administrative structure is in place to take care of changes consequent to the law. We are in various stages of preparedness. We have some lead time,” he said.

“It has been a long process and we are reaching the end of a long wait. The GST involves consensus building and should address the concerns of various partners,” he said after inaugurating the office of the Indirect Tax Ombudsman.

The CBEC is engaging with State Governments on the draft law and discussions are in the final stage. The whole process of consensus has to take place. The Empowered Committee is likely to meet in mid-June and after it gives its approval to the draft law, it will be in the public domain.

Once the Constitutional Amendment Bill is passed, it has to be passed by State governments and then we will have a GST law. Thereafter, responses of the public will be taken up and changes wherever required will be made. Thereafter, it will have to be passed by the respective State Governments and Parliament for the draft to become a law, he said.

Source: - Dailyshippingtimes.com