Computerized Financial Accounting with GST implementation Innovation
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Wikipedia
A financial transaction tax (FTT) is a levy on a specific type of financial transaction for a particular purpose. The tax has been most commonly associated with the financial sector for transactions involving intangible property rather than real property. It is not usually considered to include consumption taxes paid by consumers.
A transaction tax is levied on specific transactions designated as taxable rather than on any other attributes of financial institutions. If an institution is never a party to a taxable transaction, then no transaction tax will be levied from it. If an institution carries out one such transaction, then it will be levied the tax for the one transaction. This tax narrower in scope than a financial activities tax (FAT), and is not directly an industry or sector tax like a Financial stability contribution (FSC), or “bank tax”, for example. These distinctions are important in discussions about the utility of financial transaction tax as a tool to selectively discourage excessive speculation without discouraging any other activity (as John Maynard Keynes originally envisioned it in 1936).
There are several types of financial transaction taxes. Each has its own purpose. Some have been implemented, while some are only proposals. Concepts are found in various organizations and regions around the world. Some are domestic and meant to be used within one nation; whereas some are multinational. In 2011 there were 40 countries that made use of FTT, together raising $38 billion (€29bn).
An accounting as an information system (AIS) is a system of collecting, storing and processing financial and accounting data that are used by decision makers. An accounting information system is generally a computer-based method for tracking accounting activity in conjunction with information technology resources. The resulting financial reports can be used internally by management or externally by other interested parties including investors, creditors and tax authorities. Accounting information systems are designed to support all accounting functions and activities including auditing, financial accounting porting, -managerial/ management accounting and tax. The most widely adopted accounting information systems are auditing and financial reporting modules.
Traditionally, accounting is purely based on a manual approach. The experience and skillfulness of an individual accountant are critical in accounting processes. Even using the manual approach can be ineffective and inefficient. Accounting information systems resolve many of the above issues. AISs can support the automation of processing a large amounts of data and produce timely and accurate information.
Early accounting information systems were designed for payroll functions in 1970s. Initially, accounting information systems were developed “in-house” as no packaged solutions were available. Such solutions were expensive to develop and difficult to maintain. Therefore, many accounting practitioners preferred the manual approach rather than computer-based. Today, accounting information systems are more commonly sold as prebuilt software packages from large vendors such as Microsoft, Sage Group, SAP and Oracle where it is configured and customized to match the organization’s business processes. Small businesses often use accounting lower costs software packages such as Tally.ERP 9, MYOB and Quickbooks. Large organisations would often choose ERP systems. As the need for connectivity and consolidation between other business systems increased, accounting information systems were merged with larger, more centralized systems enterprise resource planning (ERP). Before, with separate applications to manage different business functions, organizations had to develop complex interfaces for the systems to communicate with each other. In ERP, a system such as an accounting information system is built as a module integrated into a suite of applications that can include manufacturing, supply chain, human resources. These modules are integrated together and are able to access the same data and execute complex business processes. Today, Cloud-based accounting information systems are increasingly popular for both SMEs and large organisations for lower costs. With adoption of accounting information systems, many businesses have removed low skills, transactional, and operational accounting roles.
GST was a group of computer companies based in Cambridge, England, founded by Jeff Fenton in June 1979. The company worked with Sinclair Research, Torch Computers, Acorn Computers, Mono type Corporation and Kwik-Fit, amongst others.
The group included:
- GST Computer Systems: the original name of the company.
- GST Professional Services: a software consultancy that was sold and became OTIB A.T.
- GST Software Products: produced retail software, most notably Time works Publisher.
- GST Training Centre: a class based software training provider in Cambridgeshire, UK.
- Electric Software: a games software label, producing titles for home computers such as the Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum and MSX-compatible models in the early 1980s.
GST Computer Systems started as a contract software development company. In 1983, it became involved with Sinclair Research, producing the 68K/OS operating system (later rejected by Sinclair) and development software for the Sinclair QL. In 1985 it was approached by Atari to port products from the QL on to the just to be launched Atari ST. The word processing package 1st Word was bundled with every Atari ST for the first two years of its life and GST became the leading software supplier for the Atari ST platform.
In 1987 GST developed its first desktop publishing application, Timeworks Publisher. This was sold in the US by Timeworks, Inc. (a Chicago based software publisher) as Publish-It!. This product went on to become the world-leading budget DTP product until competition from Microsoft Publisher in 1993 caused the eventual demise of Timeworks, Inc. The product was sold under new names including NEBS PageMagic (changed after objections from Adobe), Macmillan Publisher, Canon Publisher, and many other brands, distinguished by use of the .DTP file extension. The latest version was sold as Greenstreet Publisher 4 and is downwards file compatible with earlier versions.
In 2001 GST merged with eGames Europe as a new company, Greenstreet Software. It remains a developer and publisher of computer software for Windows operating systems. In July 2008 the company was reconstructed and now trades as Greenstreet Online Limited.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax (or consumption tax) used in India on the supply of goods and services. It is a comprehensive, multistage, destination-based tax: comprehensive because it has subsumed almost all the indirect taxes except a few state taxes. Multi-staged as it is, the GST is imposed at every step in the production process, but is meant to be refunded to all parties in the various stages of production other than the final consumer and as a destination-based tax, it is collected from point of consumption and not point of origin like previous taxes.
Goods and services are divided into five different tax slabs for collection of tax: 0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. However, petroleum products, alcoholic drinks, and electricity are not taxed under GST and instead are taxed separately by the individual state governments, as per the previous tax system.There is a special rate of 0.25% on rough precious and semi-precious stones and 3% on gold. In addition a cess of 22% or other rates on top of 28% GST applies on few items like aerated drinks, luxury cars and tobacco products. Pre-GST, the statutory tax rate for most goods was about 26.5%, Post-GST, most goods are expected to be in the 18% tax range.
The tax came into effect from 1 July 2017 through the implementation of the One Hundred and First Amendment of the Constitution of India by the Indian government. The GST replaced existing multiple taxes levied by the central and state governments.
The tax rates, rules and regulations are governed by the GST Council which consists of the finance ministers of the central government and all the states. The GST is meant to replace a slew of indirect taxes with a federated tax and is therefore expected to reshape the country’s $2.4 trillion economy, but its implementation has received criticism. Positive outcomes of the GST includes the travel time in interstate movement, which dropped by 20%, because of disbanding of interstate check posts.
The reform of India’s indirect tax regime was started in 1986 by Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Finance Minister in Rajiv Gandhi’s government, with the introduction of the Modified Value Added Tax (MODVAT). Subsequently, Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and his Finance Minister Manmohan Singh, initiated early discussions on a Value Added Tax (VAT) at the state level. A single common “Goods and Services Tax (GST)” was proposed and given a go-ahead in 1999 during a meeting between the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his economic advisory panel, which included three former RBI governors IG Patel, Bimal Jalan and C Rangarajan. Vajpayee set up a committee headed by the Finance Minister of West Bengal, Asim Dasgupta to design a GST model.
The Asim Dasgupta committee which was also tasked with putting in place the back-end technology and logistics (later came to be known as the GST Network, or GSTN, in 2015). It later came out for rolling out a uniform taxation regime in the country. In 2002, the Vajpayee government formed a task force under Vijay Kelkar to recommend tax reforms. In 2005, the Kelkar committee recommended rolling out GST as suggested by the 12th Finance Commission.
After the defeat of the BJP-led NDA government in the 2004 Lok Sabha election and the election of a Congress-led UPA government, the new Finance Minister P Chidambaram in February 2006 continued work on the same and proposed a GST rollout by 1 April 2010. However, in 2011, with the Trinamool Congress routing CPI(M) out of power in West Bengal, Asim Dasgupta resigned as the head of the GST committee. Dasgupta admitted in an interview that 80% of the task had been done.
The UPA introduced the 115th Constitution Amendment Bill on 22 March 2011 in the Lok Sabha to bring about the GST. It ran into opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties and was referred to a Standing Committee headed by the BJP’s former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. The committee submitted its report in August 2013, but in October 2013 Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi raised objections that led to the bill’s indefinite postponement. The Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh attributed the GST Bill’s failure to the “single handed opposition of Narendra Modi”.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government was elected into power. With the consequential dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the GST Bill – approved by the standing committee for reintroduction – lapsed. Seven months after the formation of the then Modi government, the new Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the GST Bill in the Lok Sabha, where the BJP had a majority. In February 2015, Jaitley set another deadline of 1 April 2017 to implement GST. In May 2016, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving way for GST. However, the Opposition, led by the Congress, demanded that the GST Bill be again sent back for review to the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha due to disagreements on several statements in the Bill relating to taxation. Finally, in August 2016, the Amendment Bill was passed. Over the next 15 to 20 days, 18 states ratified the Constitution amendment Bill and the President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to it.
A 21-member selected committee was formed to look into the proposed GST laws. After GST Council approved the Central Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The CGST Bill), the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The IGST Bill), the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 (The UTGST Bill), the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017 (The Compensation Bill), these Bills were passed by the Lok Sabha on 29 March 2017. The Rajya Sabha passed these Bills on 6 April 2017 and were then enacted as Acts on 12 April 2017. Thereafter, State Legislatures of different States have passed respective State Goods and Services Tax Bills. After the enactment of various GST laws, Goods and Services Tax was launched all over India with effect from 1 July 2017. The Jammu and Kashmir state legislature passed its GST act on 7 July 2017, thereby ensuring that the entire nation is brought under a unified indirect taxation system. There was to be no GST on the sale and purchase of securities. That continues to be governed by Securities Transaction Tax (STT).