The Lok Sabha on April 6, 2017 passed a bill which will ensure continuance of levy of excise on petroleum products and abolition of cess on some other items following GST rollout from July 1.
The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 seeks to amend the Customs Act, 1962, the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, the Central Excise Act, 1944, the Finance Act, 2001 and the Finance Act, 2005.
Moving the bill which was passed later by the House by a voice vote, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Gangwar said the amendments in these laws were necessary because after the roll out of GST on July 1, only a few items would remain under these Acts.
After the rollout of the GST, central excise duty on goods other than crude oil, petrol, diesel, ATF and natural gas, service tax on taxable services and VAT on sale or purchase of goods will be subsumed in the new indirect tax regime.
The bill seeks to include 'warehouse' in the definition of customs area to ensure that an importer is not asked to pay Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) at the time of removal of goods from a customs station to a warehouse.
The proposed bill also seeks to abolish the cess levied on water consumed by certain industries and by local authorities under the Water (prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977.
