Sales Tax/VAT
Sales tax is levied on the sale of movable goods. Most of the Indian States have replaced Sales tax with a new Value Added Tax (VAT) from April 01, 2005. VAT is imposed on goods only and not services and it has replaced sales tax. Other indirect taxes such as excise duty, service tax etc., are not replaced by VAT. VAT is implemented at the State level by State Governments. VAT is applied on each stage of sale with a mechanism of credit for the input VAT paid. There are four slabs of VAT:-
• 0% for essential commodities
• 1% on bullion and precious stones
• 4% on industrial inputs and capital goods and items of mass consumption
• All other items 12.5%
• Petroleum products, tobacco, liquor etc., attract higher VAT rates that vary from State to State
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