“A joint statement will be issued after a meeting with union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on January 8 on the likely date for the rollout of the goods and services tax,” Dasgupta told newsmen here on the sidelines of the 23rd Industrial Trade Fair organised by the BNCCI.

Tax structure

GST is set to replace a plethora of federal and state-level levies and usher in a simpler tax structure aimed at eliminating hidden costs. “We have a two-day meeting from January 7 next with the finance minister and the final statement on GST will be given after due consultation with Pranab Mukherjee”,Dasgupta who is also the finance minister of West Bengal, said.

His observation comes a day after his earlier observation on GST where he had stated that it would be difficult for the federal and state governments to implement the goods and services tax regime from April 1, 2010 as targeted and that it would come into force at an ‘appropriate time’.

He declined to comment when asked whether a consensus with all the states had been arrived at for the GST. The new regime is intended to achieve the larger target of a common pan-India market and uniform indirect taxes on goods and services across the country at lower rates by doing away with the cascading effect. in the present format.