Impact of GST on the Hospitality Sector


INDIAN MARKET ANALYSIS IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY 
Hospitality industry provides accommodation & entertainment services, accounting food and beverage, event management and above all guest satisfaction.India has been recognized as a destination for spiritual tourism for domestic and international tourists. Contribution by travel and tourism sector to India’s GDP has been growing and Indian Government always makes serious efforts to boost investments in tourism sector.  For the growth in this sector, 100 % FDI is allowed through the automatic route in the hotel and tourism sector
The Indian government has also released a fresh category of visa - the medical visa or M visa for attracting and raising medical tourism in the country.
PREVIOUS TAX STRUCTURE
In the previous tax regime, the hospitality industry was plagued by multiple taxes viz. Service tax, VAT, Luxury tax etc. leading to cascading effect.
-        The VAT varied from state to state-ranging between 12% to 14%.
-        Luxury tax on the room tariff and the state-ranging between NIL to 12%
-        Service tax varied on the type of service-
·        hotels with tariff in excess of Rs.1000
·        S. tax applicable at 60% of tariff+VAT+Luxury tax
·         In case of restaurants on the F & B bills-Service tax applicable at 40% of the bill + VAT.
Combination of all gives total of 20-27%. Also input credit from central taxes cannot be set off against VAT and vice versa.
IMPACT OF CURRENT TAX STRUCTURE
In hospitality sector, GST registration is mandatory for those who exceeds the thresholds limits prescribed by the government.
1.      The GST on 5 star and other luxury hotels with expected rate of 18%which had been reduced from 28%subsume all of these taxes and bring them under one single tax. This is reducing multiple taxation and giving a boost to the hospitality and tourism industry.
2.      The effect of GSTis positive leading to a considerable reduction of tax ranging between 1-7%.
3.      Lower tax rate attracts more tourists in India.
4.      Consumers also getting the benefit with the single slab of tax as multiple components in the food bill in the present structure inflate the bills by 30-35%.
5.      Claiming of input tax credit has become easier in comparison to the old tax structure.
Overall GST is positive for the sector assuming the multiplicity of taxes will go away.

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