Yes it is.

Every business carrying out a taxable supply of goods or services under GST regime and whose turnover exceeds the threshold limit of Rs. 40 lakh/ 20 Lakh as applicable will be required to register as a normal taxable person. This process is of registration is referred as GST registration.

An offender not paying tax or making short payments has to pay a penalty of 10% of the tax amount due subject to a minimum of Rs.10,000. The penalty will be high at 100% of the tax amount when the offender has evaded i.e., where there is a deliberate fraud. However, for other genuine errors, the penalty is 10% of the tax due.

It is a destination based tax on consumption of goods and services. It is proposed to be levied at all stages right from manufacture up to final consumption with credit of taxes paid at previous stages available as set off. In a nutshell, only value addition will be taxed and burden of tax is to be borne by the final consumer.

The GST would replace the following taxes: (i) Taxes currently levied and collected by the Centre: Central Excise duty Duties of Excise (Medicinal and Toilet Preparations) Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Additional Duties of Excise (Textiles and Textile Products) Additional Duties of Customs (commonly known as CVD) Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD) Service Tax. Central Surcharges and Cesses so far as they relate to supply of goods and services (ii) State taxes that would be subsumed under the GST are: State VAT Central Sales Tax Luxury Taxd. Entry Tax (all forms) Entertainment and Amusement Tax (except when levied by the local bodies) Taxes on advertisements Purchase Tax. Taxes on lotteries, betting and gambling. State Surcharges and Cesses so far as they are late to supply of goods and services. The GST Council shall make recommendations to the Union and States on the taxes, cesses and surcharges levied by the Centre, the States and the local bodies which may be subsumed in the GST.

It would be a dual GST with the Centre and States simultaneously levying it on a common tax base. The GST to be levied by the Centre on intra-State supply of goods and / or services would be called the Central GST (CGST) and that to be levied by the States/ Union territory would be called the State GST (SGST)/ UTGST. Similarly, Integrated GST (IGST) will be levied and administered by Centre on every inter-state supply of goods and services.

Under the GST regime, an Integrated GST (IGST) would be levied and collected by the Centre on inter-State supply of goods and services. Under Article 269A of the Constitution, the GST on supplies in the course of inter-state trade or commerce shall be levied and collected by the Government of India and such tax shall be apportioned between the Union and the States in the manner as may be provided by Parliament by law on the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax Council.

Tax payers with an aggregate turnover in a financial year upto [Rs.40 lakhs & Rs.20 Lakhs for NE and special category states] would be exempt from GST registration.

HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) code shall be used for classifying the goods under the GST regime. Taxpayers whose turnover is above Rs 1.5 crores but below Rs 5 crores shall use 2-digit code and the taxpayers whose turnover is Rs 5 crores and above shall use 4-digit code. Taxpayers whose turnover is below Rs. 1.5 crores are not required to mention HSN Code in their invoices. Services will be classified as per the Services Accounting Code (SAC).

Exports will be treated as zero rated supplies. No tax will be payable on exports of goods or services, however credit of input tax credit will be available and same will be available as refund to the exporters. The Exporter will have an option to either pay tax on the output and claimrefund of IGST or export under Bond without payment of IGST and claim refund of Input Tax Credit (ITC).

As per section 171 of the CGST/SGST Act, any reduction in rate of tax on any supply of goods or services or the benefit of input tax credit shall be passed on to the recipient by way of commensurate reduction in prices. An authority may be constituted by the government to examine whether input tax credits availed by any registered person or the reduction in the tax rate have actually resulted in a commensurate reduction in the price of the goods or services or both supplied by him.

Taxable event under GST is supply of goods or services or both. CGST and SGST/ UTGST will be levied on intra-State supplies. IGST will be levied on inter-State supplies.

Yes, but only those activities which are specified in Schedule I to the CGST Act / SGST Act. The said provision has been adopted in IGST Act as well as in UTGST Act also.

It means the liability to pay tax is on the recipient of supply of goods and services instead of the supplier of such goods or services in respect of notified categories of supply.

No, reverse charge applies to supplies of both goods and services, as notified by the Government on the recommendations of the GST Council.