Goods and Services Tax (GST): An Overview

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is the most revolutionary tax reform that has been implemented since independence. GST is a destination based consumption tax levied on supply of goods and services both. GST was introduced on 1st July, 2017 and will applicable through India. The Purpose of GST is to replace all major indirect taxes applicable in our country including excise duty, service tax, value added tax, sales tax, purchase tax, entertainment tax, octroi duty, luxury tax, purchase tax etc.with single tax. GST is a good step taken by the government that will open a door for India to new limitless possibilities. It will bring one nation one tax system. GST will replace multiple cascading tax effects levied by central and state government. In India, tax structure is divided into two parts: Direct tax and Indirect tax (now it is called GST). GST is further divided into two parts i.e. Intra state and Inter state. Intra state tax is collected by the CGST and SGST/UTGST (Central GST, State GST and Union Territory GST) and Inter state tax is collected by the IGST (Integrated GST). This paper highlights the impact of GST on Indian economy and also examines the defects in earlier tax structure of indirect tax and the benefits of GST. To achieve this objective, descriptive type of research design has been used. The secondary data has been intensively used for this research paper. Finally, this paper will draw a conclusion.