The Products and Services Tax (GST) is a single, all-inclusive indirect tax that will be in effect as of July 1, 2017, and it will apply to the supply of goods and services from the point of manufacture or provision of a service all the way through to the customer.It is a consumption tax that is dependent on destination and offers supply-chain input tax credits. It is valid nationwide and has a single rate for a single category of goods and services.
Prior to the implementation of the GST tax regime, taxes were instead levied on the overall cost of the good or service, with only a limited ability to use input tax credits (ITC). Taxes paid on intermediate items and services were included in the final price. This amounted to a tax cascade.
Since the implementation of the GST, taxes have been discharged at every step of supply, and the credit for taxes paid at earlier stages is now available for set off at the subsequent stage of the supply of goods and/or services. In essence, it is a tax on value creation at each stage of the supply chain.
In accordance with GST, there are six standard rates that are applied to the supply of all goods and/or services across the nation: 0%, 3%, 5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%.