An Insight Into the Value Added Tax System Detailing Its Origins, Impact, Provisions and Regulations With Reference to India

Abstract

The Value Added Tax was first introduced in France in 1954. It was the resultant effort of France and members of the European Economic Community (E.E.C) during the 1950s aimed at the simplification of commodity taxes. Currently more than 130 nations in the world have adopted the VAT system. In the last decade alone over 50 nations have introduced VAT. This includes implementation in China and most recently the addition of Australia to the list of VAT nations. The world over, VAT is payable on both goods and services as they constitute a part of the national GDR Excise duty and sales taxes are merged into the singularity of VAT. No tax is levied on exports with full input tax credit made available.

The scheme of taxation adopted by most nations is very simple. The seller of goods and the service provider charge tax on sales, avail input tax credit and pay the difference as VAT to the goVernment treasury. The compliance system in VAT nations is also very simple. There is very less interface between the tax collector and the tax payer. However there are provisions for heavy penalization of VAT defaulters. VAT is administered nationally and is also levied on imports.