Chandigarh, March 26: The Punjab Excise and Taxation Department will most likely be paying an advance amount to the SGPC, which can be used to pay the GST on purchase of items used in langar served at Darbar Sahib in Amritsar.
A state government cannot waive even its own share of the GST levied on any item. But it can refund its own share, after it is paid by the assessee.
Ideally, as is proposed in neighbouring Haryana, the state share of the GST is refunded in the assessees’ account through a direct benefit transfer.
The Punjab government is conscious of the SGPC that runs the langar sewa in Darbar Sahib being “controlled” by the SAD. In case of any delay in giving refunds (the state’s precarious fiscal health ensures that refunds are kept pending for years), the Congress government realises that it would give ammunition to their political opponents.
“Punjab is thus working on a different model for waiving the state’s GSTshare. We might make an advance payment to the SGPC, which can then be used to pay the entire GST — state’s share as well as Centre’s share,” an officer in the Excise Department said.
Initially, when the GST was rolled out in July last year, it was estimated that the SGPC would have to shell out an additional Rs 10 crore per annum towards paying the tax.
However, after the GST on certain items was reduced, the tax paid by the SGPC on items for langar was Rs 1.99 crore for the period between July 1, 2017, and January 31, 2018.
The total purchase at the Golden Temple for this period was of Rs 20.17 crore. The main items used in the lagar, which attract the GST are ghee, sugar, dry fruit, LPG, tea leaves and dry milk.
Source Tribune India
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