Goods and Services Tax (GST) Impact: How GST Will Affect Technology And Gadgets Industry

The new tax regime, goods and services tax popularly known as GST, will be rolled out across the country starting Friday mid-night. Right now, all the states and Union territories have ratified the GST Act, except Jammu & Kashmir.

However, while states are ready to implement GST, industry experts foresee technology glitches for its implementation. Many were of the opinion that the government is not still ready to take the thrust, according to New Indian Express.

Karnataka's IT & Biotechnology minister Priyank M Kharge revealed the Centre had assured a United technological border for rolling out GST and the state governments were banking on the same. The Karnataka government also held several meetings with industry bodies to generate awareness regarding the GST. However, when it comes to the technology aspect, the government is dependent on the GST Network.

The GSTN portal will be at the front-end of the GST IT ecosystem for all taxpayers across the India. Third party technology enablers categorized as GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) and Application Service Providers (ASP) are also part of the GST technology interface ecosystem.

The GST will also be having the huge impact on the people interested in buying gadgets, software and IT services. The impact of GST on e-commerce websites such as Flipkart and Amazon will make it easier to do business online with the fixed rate of tax by eliminating the tax slab for different states' customs duty.

Recently, IT hardware firms have asked the government that uniform GST rate of 18 per cent should be applied on IT products, like monitors and printers, instead of 28 per cent proposed for some items, which will make them expensive. The government has proposed 18 per cent GST rate on printing machinery used for printing by means of plates, cylinders and other printing components of heading. While on the printer, photocopying, fax machines, ink cartridges it has proposed to levy 28 per cent GST instead of 18 per cent duty that is close to the current level of total tax imposed on them.