E-commerce giant Amazon India has brought up a new program for sellers to gain comprehensive understanding and help related to goods and services tax (GST), which will commence from July 1.
The program named ‘A-Z GST Guide’ is in its pilot phase and has already trained over 5,000 sellers on the Amazon platform to get acquainted with the nuances of GST.
“By building a dedicated A-Z GST Guide portal, which is open to anyone visiting the platform and not just the Amazon sellers, the company has been educating visitors on the nuances of GST,” PTI quoted Gopal Pillai, Director and GM (Seller Services), Amazon India as saying.
The information is disseminated through a portal which provides tutorials, blogs and free online training sessions.
“The portal also provides sellers with access to paid professional support and expert advice from third—party service providers,” he said.
“Sellers will also be provided with the flexibility of accessing in—person assistance from Seller Cafes that are present in more than 30 cities in India. All necessary system and process changes are being implemented rapidly to ensure sellers are GST compliant at launch,” he added.
1.7 lakh sellers are encouraged to join the program. The 5000 sellers already on enrolled in the program has joined from across the country.
Though the e-commerce companies praised the government’s move, they collectively voiced concern over tax collection at source (TCS), given that there are thousands of small players on each platform who are likely to be hit once the rule is implemented.
The proposal states that about 2% of the amount payable to seller of goods/services will be deducted by e-commerce firms and then remit it to the government.