Tax is an integral part of any transaction or a financial activity. Indirect taxes refer to taxes which are levied on manufacture, sale, provision of goods and services. Indirect taxes include a gamut of taxes like excise duty on manufacture, sales tax (VAT/CST) on sales, import duty on import, service tax on provision of services and many more. These taxes are paid by mostly by the recpient of services/ goods (in some cases supplier/ service provider collects and pays) to the Government of India and are passed on to the next recpient in the supply/ service chain and so on till the end consumer who bears the taxes as a part of the price of the product/ services. Currently, these taxes are governed by specific laws, but a new single tax regime under Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be replacing a majority of these taxes, lilkely from 1 July 2017.
