The Builders Association of India, on September 8, 2017, demanded that the GST Council exempt all government projects, finalised before June 30, 2017, from the GST purview and insisted on implementation of the old tax structure of Value Added Tax (VAT) for it. “We are facing a lot of difficulties with the existing projects, which have been sanctioned before June 30, 2017. All the members of the association, who are executing the government projects, are facing problems on implementation of GST and have also resolved to follow the existing procedure in tax structure that is VAT,” SN Reddy, national vice-president of the association, said in a statement.
The industry body held a meeting with its members, to discuss the challenges and the impact of GST implementation and its effect on the construction and infrastructure industry, particularly on the ongoing projects.
“The hasty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has made all these existing projects unviable, as the impact of the new tax regime was not incorporated at the time of working out the project costs,” Reddy said. The GST regime warrants us to pay the applicable GST upfront and claim the input tax credit. This is further increasing the cost burden on the projects, he added.
