Offering relief to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and exporters from the rigours of complying with the technology-oriented goods and services tax (GST), the federal indirect tax body, GST Council, on Friday announced a series of rule changes. It introduced a 0.1% GST rate for merchant exporters, offering relief from the full applicable GST rates on their procurements. The Council also suspended till March a requirement that puts the onus of small businesses’ tax compliance on big businesses that source products from them. “Big players pay the largest chunk of GST, while small taxpayers who pay nominal or nil tax face high compliance impact. Small businesses with sales up to Rs 1.5 crore can also now file quarterly tax returns instead of monthly returns.

Source: Hindustan Times October 06, 2017 16:15 UTC