Indirect and Other Taxes in India

Indirect Taxes:-

 (1)   Sales Tax :-

Sales tax charged on the sales of movable goods. Sale tax on Inter State sale is charged by Union Government, while sales tax on intra-State sale (sale within State) (now termed as VAT) is charged by State Government.

Sales can be broadly classified in three categories. (a) Inter-State Sale (b) Sale during import/export (c) Intra-State (i.e. within the State) sale. State Government can impose sales tax only on sale within the State.

CST is payable on inter-State sales is @ 2%, if C form is obtained. Even if CST is charged by Union Government, the revenue goes to State Government. State from which movement of goods commences gets revenue. CST Act is administered by State Government.

(2)   Service Tax:-

Most of the paid services you take you have to pay service tax on those services. This tax is called service tax.  Over the past few years, service tax been expanded to cover new services.

Few of the major service which comes under vicinity of service tax are telephone, tour operator, architect, interior decorator, advertising, beauty parlor, health center, banking and financial service, event management, maintenance service, consultancy service

Current rate of interest on service tax is 14%. This tax is passed on to us by service provider.

(3)   Value Added Tax:-

The Sales Tax is the most important source of revenue of the state governments; every state has their respective Sales Tax Act. The tax rates are also different for respective states.

Tax imposed by Central government on sale of goods is called as Sales tax same is called as Value added tax by state government.VAT is additional to the price of goods and passed on to us as buyer (end user). Around 220+ Items are covered with VAT.VAT rates vary based on nature of item and state.

Government is planning to merge service tax and sales tax in form of Goods service tax (GST).

(4)   Custom duty & Octroi (On Goods):-

Custom Duty is a type of indirect tax charged on goods imported into India. One has to pay this duty , on goods that are imported from a foreign country into India. This duty is often payable at the port of entry (like the airport). This duty rate varies based on nature of items.

Octroi is tax applicable on goods entering in to municipality or any other jurisdiction for use, consumption or sale. In simple terms one can call it as Entry Tax.

(5) Excise Duty:-

An excise or excise duty is a type of tax charged on goods produced within the country. This is opposite to custom duty which is charged on bringing goods from outside of country. Another name of this tax is CENVAT (Central Value Added Tax).

If you are producer / manufacturer of goods or you hire labor to manufacture goods you are liable to pay excise duty.

(6) Anti Dumping Duty:-

Dumping is said to occur when the goods are exported by a country to another country at a price lower than its normal value. This is an unfair trade practice which can have a distortive effect on international trade. In order to rectify this situation Central Govt. imposes an anti dumping duty not exceeding the margin of dumping in relation to such goods.

Other Taxes:-

(1) Professional Tax    :-

If you are earning professional you need to pay professional tax. Professional tax is imposed by respective Municipal Corporations. Most of the States in India charge this tax.

This tax is paid by every employee working in Private organizations. The tax is deducted by the Employer every month and remitted to the Municipal Corporation and it is mandatory like income tax.

The rate on which this tax is applicable is not same in all states.

(2) Dividend distribution Tax:-

Dividend distribution tax is the tax imposed by the Indian Government on companies according to the dividend paid to a company’s investors. Dividend amount to investor is tax free. At present dividend distribution tax is 15%.

(3) Municipal Tax:-

Municipal Corporation in every city imposed tax in terms of property tax. Owner of every property has to pay this tax. This tax rate varies in every city.

(4) Entertainment Tax:-

Tax is also applicable on Entertainment; this tax is imposed by state government on every financial transaction that is related to entertainment such as movie tickets, major commercial shows exhibition, broadcasting service, DTH service and cable service.

(5) Stamp Duty, Registration Fees, Transfer Tax:-

If you decide to purchase property than in addition to cost paid to seller. You must consider additional cost to transfer that property on your name.

That cost include registration fees, stamp duty and transfer tax. This is required for preparing legal document of property.

In simple sense this tax is imposed on the handing over of the title of property ownership by one person to another. It incorporates a legal transaction fee & stamp duty. This amount varies from property to property based on cost.

(6) Education Cess , Surcharge:-

Education cess is deducted and used for Education of poor people in INDIA. All taxes in India are subject to an education cess, which is 3% of the total tax payable. The education cess is mainly applicable on Income tax, excise duty and service tax.

Surcharge is an extra tax or fees that added to your existing tax calculation. This tax is applied on tax amount.

(7) Gift Tax:-

If you receive gift from someone it is clubbed with your income and you need to pay tax on it. This tax is called as gift tax.

This tax is applicable if gift amount or value is more than 50000 Rs/- in a year.

(8) Wealth Tax:-

Wealth tax is a direct tax, which is charged on the net wealth of the assessee. Wealth tax is chargeable in respect of Net wealth corresponding to Valuation date.Net wealth means all assets less loans taken to acquire those assets. Wealth tax is 1% on net wealth exceeding 30 Lakhs (Rs 3,000,000). So if you have more money, assets you are liable to pay tax.

Note:- Wealth tax is abolished by government in budget 2015.Now onwards surcharge of 12% is applicable on individual earning 1 crore and above.

(9) Toll Tax:-

At some of places you need to pay tax in order to use infrastructure (road, bridge etc.) build from your money given to government as Tax. This tax is called as toll tax. This tax amount is very small amount but, to be paid for maintenance work and good up keeping.

So in total you pay 20 different taxes in direct or indirect way. At the end in order to make you laugh i will tell you one small joke on tax.