Top 5 Free GST Course Online To Get Started

GST- as simple as it can be for one, it can equally be hard for the other to understand. If you ask small business owners, what is the most difficult part of running a business, then without a single thought a lot of them will say it is GST. 

Read about the Top 10 Online GST Courses in India

As an Indian citizen, basic knowledge of our taxation system should come in handy with every one of us. But if you are a finance professional (or would like to be one)  or a business owner, then enrolling on a free GST course could be a constructive step towards your growth.

The Indian taxation system was amended in the year 2017, and that is when GST came into effect to make the system more transparent.

Though GST was not acceptable by the entire nation with open arms, yet it had to be implemented with no way out. While some of the established organizations were ready for the change and went on with it smoothly, the smaller ones were taking time to understand the process and thereby comply with it according to what was necessary.

When GST compliance comes into the picture, large organizations employ resources for their finance department, who are GST specialists and take care of everything within the system itself. The smaller organizations on the other hand most likely outsource these services.

So if you are looking out to enter into this field, whether from the job perspective or a business as a certified GST practitioner, then this article is just the right place to get started. Here is giving you a brief understanding of the topic and a list of free GST Online courses with certifications.

Learn A to Z concepts of GST with a prevalent focus on practical training from the industry experts with the Best GST Course

What is GST?

Goods and Services Tax (GST) is an indirect tax levied on citizens all over India.

To make it more precise: The taxation system of India is divided into 2 parts:

1. Direct Taxes- These are the taxes imposed directly on the income you earn. The more you earn, the more you pay. The government has bifurcated direct taxes into slabs of the income level. If a person earns below a certain limit, then the direct taxes are exempted for her/him.

2. Indirect Taxes- These are taxes imposed indirectly on the goods and services that we buy. For example, if you buy a box, then you not only pay for the price of the box but also the GST (Indirect tax) with it.

There is no exemption for indirect taxes for any person (excluding exceptions). Regardless of the income, you are earning, all the citizens of India have to pay these indirect taxes without a hitch.

GST is an overall indirect Tax, levied on goods and services purchased. It was introduced to replace multiple indirect taxes like Sevice Tax, Excise Duty, Value Added Tax, Purchase Tax. Luxury Tax etc.

A Must Read- Benefits of GST Certification Course

The percentage of the rates vary according to the HSN codes of the product. A  5%,12%, 18% and 28% GST can be charged as per the norms stipulated by the government.

Almost all the goods and services are listed and have their HSN CODES to decide the GST percentage. But some goods and services are exempted from the GST Taxes:

They include:

• Fruits and vegetables
• Petrol
• Curd
• Alcohol in some places
• Agriculture-related services
• RBI services
• Government services
• Certain healthcare and ambulances services
• Some educational services
• Charities

Brainstorm on What is GST Practitioner Course

GST  is divided into 2 parts:

1. Inter-State Taxation-  The tax charged when goods and services are supplied from one state to another. This is known as IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax)

2. Intra-state Taxation- The tax charged when the goods and services are supplied within the respective state. This is known as CGST(Central Goods and Services Tax) and SGST (State Goods and Services Tax).

Who Should Enrol For An Online GST Certification Course

• Chartered Accountants (On the job or practitioners)
• Aspiring Chartered Accountants
• Company Secretary (On the job or practitioner)
• Aspiring candidates who want to pursue CS
• IAS aspirants,
• MBA finance professionals/ students
• ICWA professionals
• CFO’s
• LLB practitioners and aspirants
• Independent tax practitioners and consultants,
• Accountants
• B.com graduates.
• M.Com postgraduates
• Sales-tax practitioner
• Small or medium-sized business owners who are looking forward to handling their finances on their own

Here are Top 10 GST Certification Courses for Graduates

Other than the above, any individual who is looking out for career opportunities in taxation, then the course is for you.

Why Opt For A GST Course (Benefits)

1. This extra certification could be a reason for your salary hike by 15% to 25%
2. Increase in the number of job opportunities available in the market
3. You can start your consultancy by providing these services.
4. It upgrades your skillset
5. You will learn how to manage to comply with your own finance as well.

Check out the Top 12 GST Certification Courses in Delhi NCR

Top 5 Free Gst Course Online

Free Gst Course By Class Central

Class Central offers 2 Free GST Online courses. The courses are designed keeping in mind students and professionals who want to learn GST and help small traders and business owners to get through with their GST and file taxes.

Course 1- Introduction to GST

Mode of Learning- Online

It is a 12-week long course taught by Professor Anirban Ghosh which covers the following:

Syllabus covered:

Week -1

Introduction and overview of GST

U-1: Introduction to GST

U-2: Benefits of GST

U-3: Overview of GST

Quiz: Week 1- MCQ

Week -2

Concept of supply

U-4: Scope of supply

U-5:Levy of GST

Quiz: Week 2- MCQ

Week -3

Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM)

U-6: Concept of RCM

Quiz: Week 3- MCQ

Week -4

Composition Scheme

U-7: Composition Scheme

Quiz: Week 4- MCQ

Week -5

Valuation of GST

U-8: Valuation Rules

Quiz: Week 5- MCQ

Week -6

Payment of GST

U-9: Payment of GST

Week -7

Input Tax Credit

U-10: Concept of payment of GST and ITC

Week -8

Returns under GST

U-11: Furnishing of returns

Week -9

Books of accounts

U-12: Different books of accounts

Week -10

Interest, Penalty and Prosecution-I

U-13: Provision of interest

Week -11

Interest, Penalty and Prosecution-II

U-14: Provision of penalty & prosecution

Week- 12

Revision

Course 2 – Goods and Services Tax

Mode of Learning- Online

It is a 15-week long course taught by Dr Ashoka M L and Dr Vinay S, which covers the following:

Syllabus Covered

Week 1: Introduction to Indirect Taxation

Week 2: Indirect Tax Reforms

Week 3: Indirect Tax Structure

Week 4: Concept of GST

Week 5: Concept of supply and GST Act

Week 6: Tax Aspect of Supply

Week 7: Value of Taxable Supply

Week 8: Composition Levy

Week 9: Input Tax Credit-1

Week 10: Input Tax Credit-2

Week 11: Registration under GST Law

Week 12: Calculation of  Interest on Tax Liability

Week 13: Audit under GST and TCS and TDS under GST

Week 14: Exam preparation

Week 15: Examination

Free Gst Course By Instamojo

Mode of Learning- Online

This course is teamwork of ClearTax.in (No.1 platform for filing tax) and Mojoversity. It is in a short video format which extends to 1 and a half hours.

The easily understandable content completes with a quiz, in the end, to test how much have you learned. After the completion of the course, you can download your certificate, given by Mojoversity and Cleartax. The course is formatted keeping small business owners in mind and could be very useful for them.

Syllabus covered

• Chapter 1: Introduction to GST invoice

What is GST Invoice?

Who should raise a GST Invoice?

What to include in a GST Invoice?

• Chapter 2: Types of GST invoices

GST compliant Invoice Template.

Services Invoice requirements

Free Invoice Generator

• Chapter 3: Tax Invoices in special Case

Invoice for special cases

Exemptions for special cases

• Chapter 4:  Basics of E-Way Bill

What is E-Way Bill?

Who should generate an e-way bill?

How and when to generate E-way Bill?

• Chapter 5:  E-invoicing- The future of GST Invoices

What is E-invoicing?

Who should Implement E-invoicing?

How to generate E-invoices?

Free Gst Course By Udemy

There are a bunch of free GST online courses which are run by Udemy. Here is a listing of a few of them based on their rating and student reviews.

Special Mention- You get the certification only when you go in for the paid versions.

Free GST Course by CA Piyush Gupta

Mode of Learning- Online

Time duration- 1 hour 12 min on-demand video in easy language

Student rating- 4.2 stars (239 ratings) and 2,519 students enrolled

The course covers:

• What is GST
• Types of GST
• GST Details
• IGST UGST SGST
• GST Calculations
• Input Tax Credit
• Benefits of GST
• Tax Rates
• Output GST
• GST Threshold
• Meaning of Goods
• Meaning of Services

GST Certification Program By GST Suvidha

Mode of Learning- Online

Time duration- 1 hour 5 min on-demand video

Student rating- 4.5 stars  (148 ratings) and 3080 students enrolled

The course covers:

• GST Certification Program Overview

• Why you must make a career in GST?
• About GST Certification Program – Complete Course
• About your virtual classroom

• Introduction to Taxation

• What is Tax?
• Types of Tax
• Direct Tax – Brief Idea
• Direct vs Indirect Tax
• Quiz on section “Introduction To Taxation”

• Basics of GST

• 3 Important Points in GST
• Why GST?
• Central Taxes subsumed under GST
• State Taxes Subsumed under GST
• Goods On Which GST is Not Applicable.
• Quiz on section ” Basics of GST”

• On GST portals, how to file GST Returns

• An introduction to Input Tax Credit
• What is Input Tax?
• What is Output Tax?
• What is Input Tax Credit?
• Input Tax Credit Example 1
• Input Tax Credit Example 2
• Input Tax credit
• Familiarizing with GST Return Dashboard
• GSTR 1 overview
• GSTR 2A Overview
• GSTR 3B overview

Goods and Services Tax Registration By GST Taxpayer

Mode of Learning- Online

Time duration- 1 hour 6 min on-demand video

Student rating- 3.9 stars  (336 ratings) and 7682 students enrolled

The course covers:

• A Brief Introduction to GST
• Benefits of GST
• Anomalies of GST
• Important Points of GST Registration
• Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN)
• Registration process of GST
• Photograph requirement according to GST law
• Process after submission of form
• Issue of GSTIN
• Cancellation of GSTIN

Free Gst Course By Veer Tutorial 

The course explains how GST works in India. It also teaches the student on how to use GST in the Tally Software.  The course is designed keeping in mind the general scope and can be taken by any individual to wants to learn the concepts of GST from scratch.

Mode of Learning- Online

Syllabus Covered

• What are the Benefits of GST?
• How GST Administered in India?
• Steps to be taken to Implement GST in Tally
• How an Update in Masters is done in Tally for GST
• How an Update in Masters is done in Tally- Part2
• How an Invoice Sales Bill is created and generated in tally for GST
• Purchase for GST Input
• Creating an invoice bill of sales of service in tally with GST information
• Creating an Invoice under GST Regime for a Retail store

Free Gst Course By ICT Academy

The course is named GST in 90 minutes. It covers all the basics of GST, its benefits and implications on the Tax Law. The course is a tutorial where the veterans from the industry have shared their insights. They include leading CA’s Corporate Executives, Indirect Tax Professionals, Captains of Industry and alike. It aims at educating the masses across India

Mode of Learning- Online

Syllabus Covered: The Course has 11 modules:

01 Module

Introduction to GST

02 Module

What does History say?

03 Module

What are the Taxes that GST axes?

04 Module

Why do we need GST?

05 Module

What are the Tax Points? (Part 1)

06 Module

What are the Tax Points? (Part 2)

07 Module

How Technology will be the great enabler?

08 Module

What are the benefits of GST?

09 Module

What are the impacts & implications of GST?

10 Module

What are the voices of caution?

11 Module

Closing Thoughts

Signing Off

The implementation of GST was a calculated move taken by the government of India to get the taxation system run in a crystal clear manner. The adaptation came in slow but steady at the same time.

Though the initial stages looked challenging to Msme’s, a hands-on understanding of the working of GST was a critical yet necessary factor.  Not having to remember the numerous indirect taxes levied on a particular product, remembering GST is indeed a much easier job.

The main advantage that GST brought along with its enforcement was a profusion of opportunities in the finance industry. Taking up a course for understanding GST will take you a step ahead in your career. So whether you want to be a salaried professional or would like to open a consultancy, this line of work has all it takes to get you to go places.

All the best for your career.