Post GST Impact: How Goods and Services Tax Will Affect Prices of Gadgets, Software, and IT Services

 

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will roll out in India on July 1, 2017. This could have a big impact on the prices of smartphones, all other electronic goods, software, and IT services in India. To find out whether the prices of smartphones and other gadgets will rise after GST rolls out in India, we contacted a tax expert. On this episode of Orbital, Preeti Khurana, a CA who works with ClearTax, joins host Pranay Parab to talk about the impact of GST on tech products and services in India.

We start by talking about the basics - what GST is and the taxes it replaces in India. Khurana explains how this impacts businesses in India and what they can do to ensure that they are following GST norms in India. GST norms are complex and this episode features an easy-to-follow explanation of the most important changed GST will bring about.

The discussion soon moves to the impact of GST on people interested in buying gadgets, software and IT services. Will prices of gadgets increase? What will you have to shell out less money for? Khurana answers all of these questions. If you've been wondering whether you have to pay GST even if you are selling an old phone online or offline, this episode answers that question as well. We even look at grey areas such as if someone initiates a transaction over chat apps such as WhatsApp.

Finally, we discuss the impact of GST on e-commerce websites such as Flipkart and Amazon, and talk about how the new taxation norms impact small retailers. Will you be able to save money buying offline or will discounts online be too tempting to resist? We answer these questions and more.