Arun Jaitley to address mega GST event on Sunday

Union Minister Arun Jaitley, who is recuperating after a kidney transplant, will address the first anniversary celebrations of GST on Sunday through video conferencing while all other officials of finance ministry led by Minister Piyush Goyal will participate in the day-long event at the newly constructed Ambedkar Bhawan here.

The mega-event to commemorate the first year of GST is expected to give some directions on how the biggest indirect tax system is going to unfold in the coming months. Other participants of the event are trade and industry chambers, traders themselves and other stakeholders.

Jaitley, who has not addressed a large gathering in the recent times, may take the opportunity to announce the forthcoming simplification of GST structure besides presenting a successful revenue generation GST has brought forth in a short period of 11 months.

In a shot in the arm for the government, revenues from GST reached a little over Rs 1 lakh crore in April. Traders, however, have demanded that the tax collection be made simpler for better compliance and bring more tax payers into the net.

The celebrations come at a time when the outgoing Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has called for doing away with the peak rate of 28% under the GST to make it simpler. Jaitley, who had recently hailed Subramanian's contribution on amendments under GST, may accept his recommendations on rate structure too.

Apex traders' body CAIT has sought certain changes in filing of GST and urged the Council to delay the reverse charge mechanism will next year in order to help small and medium businesses. The finance minister is expected to give some kind of assurance to traders on the GST Day although they may not be very explicit as the issue has to be sorted out by the GST Council, whose meeting is expected to take place on July 21.

Simultaneous events will also be held at the state capitals and major cities where GST awareness campaign will take the lead.