Know what will become Expensive & What Cheaper under GST

The Goods and Services Bill (GST) is now fully confirmed and is ready to roll out and be effective from July 2017. After late last month, Lok Sabha passed 4 important bills related to GST and they got cleared by Rajya Sabha without any modifications.

Now, only various states need to discuss the implications of GST, before it gets rolled out nationwide.

Image courtesy:-www.gst.tax.com

GST is hailed as the biggest & most powerful financial reform bill waiting to get passed since Independence. GST unifies the nation with a single tax regime which states that even you are selling a product from Assam or Tamil Nadu; it won’t matter from now on.

The common man is, no doubt worried about the real impact of GST on his pocket, and paying heed to this need, we are discussing here the major services which will become expensive after GST gets applied and 7 of those services, which will become cheaper:

Image courtesy:-www.LegalRaasta.com

The Services and Goods going Expensive under GST

• Mobile telephone bills (from existing 15% service tax, telecom bills can now attract 18% tax under GST)
• Courier Services
• Insurance premiums
• Online booking of bus/train/air tickets
• Banking, Investment Banking, Wealth Management Services
• Residential and Commercial Rentals
• WiFi Services, DTH Services
• Metro fares/ Rail fares/ Airfares
• Healthcare/ School Fees
• Ecommerce shopping
• Cold Drinks, tobacco and Junk foods (290% tax on tobacco products and Sin Tax on cold drinks and fast foods already comes under the planning of GST)

Image courtesy:-www.modiachievements.in

The Goods and Services going Cheap under GST

• Movie tickets (Entertainment tax would be eliminated under GST, hence, cheaper tickets)
• Two-wheelers
• Dining in restaurants (With reduced Service tax)
• Entry level sedans
• Washing machines
• Televisions/Refrigerators/ AC (As of now, TV’s and other electronic appliances are charged with 30% tax, which will reduce down to 18% for small-screen TV and 28% for AC, coolers, refrigerators and others)
• Gas/Electric stoves
• Basic food products like wheat, rice, pulses
• Essential food items like edible oil (Under GST, tax on these items will fall from 30% to 28% and in some cases, even 18%)
• Soaps & Oils
• To be unbiased, changes in GST for essential food products and petrol/diesel haven’t been yet announced. But as per the statements issued by GST Council, it is quite clear that all of the impacts on these commodities and services will be positive, and they would become cheap.