GST is going to
change the way of business for the Tax Payers as well as the Tax officers.
Information technology is going to govern things rather than the officer. The
tax payer and the officer’s interaction will all be through the Online GSTN
Ecosystem. However, that would not be the only way for interacting with the GST
system. GST ecosystem Common platform will allow the taxpayer to have a choice
of third party applications, which will provide all user interfaces and
convenience via PC-desktop, mobile, iPad, smart handheld devices etc. All such
applications are expected to be developed by third party service providers who
have been given a generic name, GST Suvidha Provider or GSP. The basic criteria
to become a GSP is that it should be registered in India as a company/firm and
engaged in development of software.
Many start ups
are in process of developing Services, which once approved by the GSTN and
fulfills the conditions laid down by the GSTN, can become a bridge between the
Common Portal and Tax payer. The GSPs will be free to adopt business models
they chose to recover the cost of operations from their users and/or through
advertisements. As far as the interaction between GSP and the GST System is
concerned, the same will be free for the first year of operation and will
become chargeable after that. Since GSP provided applications will be used by
taxpayers for exchanging information with GST Systems, they will be required to
get certified from an approved agency. The cost recovery from second year
onwards will be based on per API call made to GST System and the same will be
determined in an open and transparent manner by dividing cost of operation by
total number of APIs over a period of time. It is pertinent to mention that
GSTN is a not-for-profit company. A GSP providing tax accounting software will
have the advantage of already providing the tax payer with a vast majority of
the taxation functionality. As all interactions like returns, registrations,
refunds, payments will be online; GSPs can play a very vital role in Ease of
Doing Business.