Outline Of GST And Benefits Of GST Certification Course

When we go out shopping, at the end of the day along with purchased items, we also receive invoices usually called bills from the shopkeeper. It is always advised to generate an invoice for every purchase to keep a track record. When we look at the invoice, we find that along with the cost of material or service, there is an addition of a certain percentage of charges in the form of GST, which is the acronym for Goods and Service Tax.

This tax is applied on goods procured, for services availed, and is paid by the consumer. This good can be of any form like groceries, essential items, medicines, electronic items, eateries, and likewise services. The GST collected gets added to the Government treasury, which is used for people’s welfare and the nation’s development.

There would be many queries popping out about the subject as this is still a trending topic to date. Here is an attempt to provide better clarity regarding GST. This write-up would be introducing you to GST, the reason behind its existence, courses, certifications, and career opportunities upon certification. In addition, it also throws light on some of the benefits of GST Course

Must Read: Top 10 Online GST Courses in India

Getting to know GST

We know that tax is a mandatory financial charge paid to a government organization, which is further used for the welfare of people and the country. In a country where there is an influence of both Central and State governments, the tax charge pattern differs in various aspects as the charges applied by each state would be different even though the Central charge is fixed. In this type of tax policy, tax slabs and charges will become many resulting in improper accountability of the country’s financial status. To streamline the accountability process, GST was introduced. 

GST, which is an acronym for Goods and Service Tax, is an indirect tax that is paid by consumers on availing the service or purchase of any Goods in the form of the market price. GST has replaced all the pre-GST taxes like State VAT, Entertainment tax, Entry tax, Taxes on the advertisement, and others. In this, the tax is levied at every step of the market chain, i.e from manufacture to retailer.

Know about What is GST Certification Course

Why GST?

GST implementation has brought some known advantages and value addition. Here are some of the points that give an insight into how GST has a positive impact on the Government, consumers, and traders.

GST to Government

• GST was introduced to have proper track and streamlined financial income. With the presence of GST, the country’s market would attract many foreign investors for investment which in turn increases the country’s economy.
• Emerging of new businesses also increases the chances of employment which is beneficial for the economy of the country.
• The import and export business would increase steadily. This is beneficial for the country’s economy.

GST to Consumers

• GST implementation has led to a decrease in the overall market price of the goods. Pre-GST, the cascading of tax was in the picture, which resulted in the high price of the material. AS GST is applied at every stage of the chain, the consumer must pay all the taxes at once.
• As GST is common all over the country, the market price of any good which comes under the GST slab is the same within the country.
• GST has made the tax collecting process very simplified. So, one can get the amount of tax to be paid very easily. 
• Implementation of GST will attract many investors from all over the world to invest in our country, which proportionally helps in an increase in employment. There would be a lot of chances of employment.

GST to traders:

• GST facilitates the traders (wholesalers, retailers, exporters, importers, and many more) to have transparency in transactions related to business.
• With the digital record showcasing the GST paid, the trader can get the loan for their business at the earliest.
• GST has got a simplified structure. It helps the new traders to easily understand the process before joining the market. 

Who can apply to GST? 

All the traders, who are part of the goods and service market chain i.e. from collecting raw materials to manufacturing to retailing/ selling- must get themselves registered under GST. Post-registration, they would be allocated with a unique 15-digit PAN-based number which is called GSTIN. This number is required when one would be filing GST returns.

At times, we do come across many traders still unclear about many processes and concepts related to GST and its implementation. To make an easy mechanism for everyone related to GST block, some professionals would help them in all aspects. These individuals are called GST practitioners.

GST practitioners:

GST practitioners are the professionals, who are recognized by the Central Government or state government, to provide service on behalf of the taxpayer. The final submission will be done by the taxpayer. They assist the taxpayer in having compliance with the GST protocol. The following are the roles and responsibilities handled by the GST practitioners.

• Viewing the GST notices.
• Creating requests for new registrations, cancellations, or amendments of registrations under GST.
• Claiming refunds (if necessary), on behalf of taxpayers.
• Creating challan and deposit the cash.

One who wants to be a GST practitioner should first get themselves enrolled under GST for practicing, but to get allowed to work, they must compulsorily clear the GST Practitioner certification exam. Post clearing this exam, they can work as GST practitioners. Being a practitioner is associated with numerous benefits of GST certification course. 

Before getting to know the benefits, we need to know the syllabus of the GST practitioner certification program. The below section gives an insight into the course syllabus.

GST Practitioner certification program 

Before attempting the examination, there are certain prerequisites to be considered.

• A citizen of India
• They should have the capability to provide rational Judgement, i.e. they should have a sound mind.
• They must have a record of paying their returns timely and must not have penalized for late payment, i.e. they must not be adjudged as insolvent
• They must not be convicted for an offense for not more than 2 years.

Once the above pre-requisites are met, aspirants can get themselves enrolled under GST as a practitioner. But with the two years of enrollment, they must clear the examination, which is conducted by NACIN to get certified and have official authority. One must get to know the topics covered in this program to understand some of the benefits of GST certification course.

Who are eligible for the GST practitioner examination?

Here is the list which guides who are eligible to write the GST practitioner examination. Post-meeting the required pre-requisites, the aspirant must meet any one of the following educational qualifications and work experience:

• A retired officer of the Commercial Tax Department of any State Government, or the Central Board of Excise and Customs has worked in the post greater than Group B gazette officer for more than two years.
• A tax return payee or sales tax practitioner registered for a period of a minimum of 5 years.
• A graduate or post-graduation or equivalent degree in Commerce, Law, Banking, higher auditing or business administration or business management from any Indian university or Foreign university.
• One must clear any one of the below final examinations recognized by the Government for GST practitioners.
• Institute of chartered accountants of India
• Institute of Cost Accountants of India
• Institute of Company Secretaries of India

The complete examination is of 2 hours 30 mins, consisting of 100 multiple choice questions coverall counting to total 200 marks. A minimum of 50 percent of the total marks is required to clear the examination. The examination fee is around INR 500.

As we are now familiar with the GST certification course syllabus and examination process, let’s deep dive into the benefits of GST certification course.

Along with gaining knowledge, one would also try to find various benefits of any course which they are pursuing. Like ways, one would have come across one common question, “Along with knowledge, what are the other paybacks of GST certification course?”

Benefits of GST certification course:

• With the implementation of GST, there has been a sudden increase in the demand for GST practitioners in most of the business industries for GST management, up-gradation, and reconciliation. As more and more business industries are launching every year, proportionally the GST practitioner’s demand is also in increasing order. Improved job opportunities are the key benefits of GST certification course. 
• A salary increase is yet another benefit of GST certification course. Certified professionals on average get 15%-25% of salary higher salary. 
• Nationwide, more than two lakh jobs have emerged after the implementation of GST that require GST management either directly or indirectly. This has in turn increased the demand for GST practitioners. Needless to mention that increased job opportunity is one of the key benefits of GST certification course.
• Bearing the label of “certified GST practitioner”, adds a bond of trust between the employer and the practitioner. This certificate provides the proof of competence and knowledge of the practitioner and ensures the employer hires them.
• Further, the benefits of GST certification course get extended to setting up their consultancy firm, where they can help and guide the taxpayers who seek service support of these sorts.
• Professionals from finance get large benefits of GST certification course, by scaling up their knowledge level and are most likely to rejoice a wide range of corporate opportunities.
• Also, the professional and competitive advantages indirectly aid in an increase in professional and personal credibility.

Furthermore, here are some of the superfluous points, which can be supplemented to explain the benefits of GST certification course. These practitioners are authorized for the following, in addition to their basic functions. 

• A professional can provide details about inward and outward supplies.
• As a consultant, they have authority to accept or reject the application of the fellow taxpayer.
• They are authorized to make changes in the profile of the taxpayer with their consent and can guide the taxpayer to submit the changes post verification.
• They have the authority to provide monthly, quarterly, and annual returns on behalf of the taxpayer.
• They can be authorized representatives in front of the officer of the department. 

Along with the above-explained roles, one can avail of the benefits of GST certification course by teaching or training other aspirants who aspire to be successful GST practitioners by getting certified. Speaking about the average salary, as a practitioner, one will be earning in the range between 5.4 Lakhs to 6.9 Lakhs initially, which again depends on one’s skills and experience.

Also, many tax personnel often desirous to work in multinational organizations as a choice of their career path. Here is a list of some of these organizations that actively recruit GST practitioners. They highly recommend certified practitioners for their working profiles.

• PWC: As per the records, PWC has expanded the GST group by over 30%. They work on re-skilling of their employees to keep up to date with the regulation. They have their continuous efforts on their recent development on e-voicing. This mainly deals with the new Invoice reference number (IRN) related compliance for clients without any error or any requirement of duplicity. It mainly includes an ERP framework with the assurance for the smooth progress of existing and new work.

• EY: Being one of the biggest server-based application providers, DigiGST® is the application provided by EY, which is launched on the SAP cloud platform. This is one of the well-built ERP platforms, wherein all the business-related queries are performed on the cloud, where it mostly deals with GST returns preparation and Annexure -2. The GSTN application programming interface is taken from the cloud to collect the GST return by providing the information to the GST network.

• Deloitte: The company has developed an e-learning platform to provide guidance related to GST-related information. They have a well-developed program structure which is created by many instructors for learning purposes. This is updated on regular basis with all the relevant changes if required. They also provide a service wherein one can keep their receipts, accommodate the inward, outward supplies, download records, e-sign facility, and many more.

• KPMG: An approved GST Suvidha Provider (GSP), KPMG introduces KPMG GST Compliance Pilot. This Pilot provides end-to-end support for seamless filling of GST returns along with e-invoicing generation and e-way bills. KPMG GST compliance pilot gathers data from various sources from clients, processes the data, and showcases it in the form of dashboards. This tool is also customized as per interface requirements like tax filing, bill generation, and many more.
• Grant Thornton: they have come up with a vast development in the field of GST. They have introduced the tool in which the organization can foresee the status of their task by considering GST. Based on the output, they can modify their input to generate the desired output. This is usually called “what-if analysis,” wherein simulations on various inputs are performed to gather the results, to know the GST impact on business. 

From the above, one can know that at present many automation is being developed in the field of GST to facilitate the smooth execution of GST tax policies. To develop automation, one needs to have the proper data and theoretical process. To provide the required details, non-other than GST practitioner is recommended as it would be a matter of accuracy. 

As the briefing goes on about GST certification courses, getting wider benefits of certification courses usually a coaching institute is recommended. Certain reputed institutes provide proper guidance on how to excel in the certification course. Here are some of the coaching institutes for reference.

• IIM skills: Along with many other certifications, IIM skills have gained a lot of popularity and credibility for the GST certification course. The whole course is broken down into simpler forms, which are taught by an experienced and knowledgeable team. The teaching method is developed in a way that is easily understood by all, irrespective of prior knowledge.

Also, read this IIM Skills GST Course Review

• CA club India: This is an interactive platform for professionals in finance and taxation. They do teach a wide variety of coaching options. Within them, they are also known for their GST certification course and ways of teaching. 
• V skills: this is one of the largest certification bodies in India. The institute has trained a lot of people to date, and its main aim is to improve the employability of the individual. They provide many popular certification pieces of training related to finance like tally, GST certification, and many more. 
• ICMAI: The Institute of Cost Accountants of India provides training related to finances and accounts. They have a course dedicated to GST certification recommended by many aspirants. 
• Henry Harvin Education: known for its training structure, this institute has made in top-recommended institutes for GST certification courses. The teaching style has received a good response from all over the world. 

Conclusion

The above write-up is an attempt to convey detailed information about GST, its certification course, examination syllabus pattern, and some of the benefits of GST certification course. Anticipating the information provided will be helpful to many of the budding GST practitioners.