Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Lokesh Kumar Jatav, commissioner State GST Department, has said that 72.40% of the total population in the State is rural and 27.60% is urban. The way migration from villages to cities is increasing day by day, demand for real estate in urban areas of the state is certain to rise.
Jatav was addressing a seminar organised by Tax Practitioners Association (TPA) here on Thursday exclusively for officers of the State GST Department to update them about the provisions of GST applicable to real estate sector.
Jatav said that currently, our officers have 2/3rd of their total experience in the VAT regime and only 1/3rd in GST. Since the demand for real estate is definitely going to increase in the coming years due to urbanisation, real estate cases related to GST are also definitely going to increase. Since the provisions related to real estate in GST are a bit complicated, therefore, as a tax administrator, the responsibility of the department also increases to ensure that there is a common understanding of tax laws. Compliance should be uniform in the entire state, interpretation should be uniform and whatever orders are being made by GST officers, there should be uniformity in them across the country.
Rajnee Singh, additional commissioner of State GST Department, said that correct interpretation of tax laws is the basic requirement of correct tax administration. She said that such sessions would definitely help the officers of the department in correct analysis of tax laws.
GST expert CA Sunil P. Jain said that now-a-days it is common practice that builders provide free accessories like a car along with the house. This will be treated as mixed supply in the eyes of the law and the builder will be liable to pay 28% GST instead of 5%. Therefore, such free offers can become a problem for builders. He said that in the case of immovable property, the place where the property is situated would be considered the place of supply. It will not be taxed.
Earlier, CA Shailendra Singh Solanki, president of the TPA, said that the GST law has been in existence for more than 7 years. In these years over 1,000 amendments have been made. Due to which today's GST law is completely different from the original GST law.
He said that the amendments are happening very fast that’s why it is necessary for the tax administration to be constantly updated.
