As the Goods and Services Tax is set to be rolled out from July 1, companies should have manual and technological documentation compliance till the time there is a surety that the system works seamlessly, says a senior advocate.

Speaking at a discussion titled ‘Into GST and Whatzzz Up in Store’ organised by the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Chennai on Monday, N Venkatraman, Senior advocate, said companies should prepare for the worst case scenario at least for the first few months and equip themselves. “Two major areas where that will affect smooth transition are technology readiness and tax administration,” he added.

In case of technological readiness, Venkatraman said it is safer to follow the current manual process for documentation and also comply with technological requirement for GST. Keeping record of legitimate grievance of trade will help companies resolve them.

Administration challenges
With regard to tax administration challenges, Venkatraman advised industries to pay tax as per the GST regime and raise concerns to the GST Council. “If concerns are genuine, they will be condoned and companies can avoid penalisation,” he added.

Other concerns relate to getting supplies from unregistered users, confusion regarding multi-location operation and anti-profiteering clause in GST.

When getting products from unregistered suppliers, the companies will have to pay reverse tax. Venkatraman encouraged companies not to purchase supplies from those companies to avoid reverse taxation. In case companies are not passing on the tax benefit to the consumers, companies should have records to prove that they have not assimilated the reduction in tax.

In case a company has multi-state operations, it should ensure that each state has records of independent transactions like purchase order and invoice. Venkatraman said, “It is better to arrange your services in such a way that it does not involve two states at least for the time being.”