GST stands for Goods and Services Tax, which is a value-added tax (VAT) levied on most goods and services sold for domestic consumption in many countries. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax that has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes in India). GST is imposed at every step in the production process, but it is meant to be refunded to all parties in the various stages of production other than the final consumer). GST is a consumption-based tax/destination-based tax, therefore, taxes are paid to the state where the goods or services are consumed, not the state in which they were produced).
GST is an indirect federal sales tax that is applied to the cost of certain goods and services. The business adds the GST to the price of the product, and a customer who buys the product pays the sales price inclusive of the GST. The GST portion is collected by the business or seller and forwarded to the government. GST is generally considered to be a regressive tax, meaning that it takes a relatively larger percentage of income from lower-income households compared to higher-income households.
GST has replaced many indirect taxes in India such as the excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc. . GST has helped in widening the tax base in India and increased tax-registered businesses. Besides, the stricter laws surrounding input tax credits have helped bring certain unorganised sectors under the tax net. GST is mainly technologically driven, and all the activities like registration, return filing, application for refund, and response to notice need to be done online on the GST portal, which accelerates the processes.
In Singapore, GST is a broad-based consumption tax levied on the import of goods, as well as nearly all supplies of goods and services/basics-of-gst/goods-and-services-tax-(gst)-what-it-is-and-how-it-works). In the United States, GST is referred to as sales tax, which applies to the sale of goods and services, including “tangible personal property” . Calculating US sales tax can be an onerous process since the rules vary from state to state. Businesses need to file returns to each jurisdiction where GST tax is collected, which can be time-consuming without automated software to do it for you.
In summary, GST is a value-added tax levied on most goods and services sold for domestic consumption in many countries. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax that has replaced many indirect taxes in India. GST is an indirect federal sales tax that is applied to the cost of certain goods and services. It is mainly technologically driven and has helped in widening the tax base in India.
