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GST tech network to be ready by year end
NEW DELHI As India readies for a countrywide Goods and Services Tax (GST), a team of technology specialists and tax experts are busy stitching together a robust
NEW DELHI As India readies for a countrywide Goods and Services Tax (GST), a team of technology specialists and tax experts are busy stitching together a robust country-wide information technology (IT) network and to make the rollout seamless.
GST Network (GSTN), a special purpose vehicle (SPV), was set up as a private limited company in 2013 to create a robust IT backbone to enable real-time taxpayer registration, filing returns, handle invoices, execute interstate tax settlements, and connect states for two-way data flow.
“The system which is being prepared by Infosys is 60% through and will be ready to be rolled out by December-end,” GSTN chairman Navin Kumar told Hindustan Times.
The Bengaluru-based was awarded a contract worth ₹1,380 crore to build and maintain the technology network.
The tech backbone will be a portal-driven system that will connect the databases of the states and the centre and will help check tax evasion and broaden the tax base. The portal is likely to be named “gstindia,” sources said.
In a tweet on Wednesday revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said, “We are ready with state of art IT design for GST implementation. Hardware and software will all be ready for testing by January 2017.”
The rates will likely be specified in the subordinate legislations that will have to be passed after the main central law is enacted.
The hardware network of storage servers and computers for GSTN will involve an estimated cost of about ₹500 crore.
Traders, manufacturers, service providers will have to register with the government with a GST identity code.
“GSTN is assisting 17 states and 5 union territories to absorb the system and the workings to deal with the tax returns, tax structure, payments etc by giving them training and support. In the second stage, it will develop systems for assessing and auditing tax returns and filings,” Kumar said.
For the ease of the taxpayer and the tax administrators the finance ministry is also likely to set up two sets of 24-hour help lines. Also, for the tax payers who are technologically challenged, government is likely to have tax return preparers and agents who can be approached for outsourcing of these services for a nominal fee.
The IT backbone, Kumar said, is designed in a manner that is easy to understand and will ensure a seamless transfer of funds with transparency.
