Government Puts Forth 4 GST Amendment Bills to Help MSMEs

The Government of India has moved to rework the Goods and Services Tax (GST) laws. It has introduced four bills in the Lok Sabha to amend GST laws to make the returns form hassle-free, and set the threshold for getting the composition scheme to INR 1.5 crore.
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal introduced the Bill and said the four bills — Central GST (Amendment) Bill, the integrated GST (Amendment) Bill, the GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Bill and the Union Territory GST (Amendment) Bill — are to help the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector and small traders.
Once the bills are cleared, the MSMEs that have annual turnover of up to INR 50 million can file quarterly returns. Moreover, businesses with INR 15 million per year can opt for the composition scheme. As of now, the threshold is INR 10 million. This scheme offers a flat and concessional GST rate, but no input tax credit. The composition scheme allows manufacturers and traders to pay GST at a flat rate of 1 per cent and file quarterly GST returns.
Piyush Goyal added that the government will introduce the simplified GST returns forms Sahaj and Sugam to facilitate ease of doing business.
Piyush Goyal said that the GST amendments intends to resolve the difficulties that the taxpayers —especially the MSMEs — face while paying taxes and filing returns.