If you are a business, it is nearly certain you deposit some tax other than income tax. It could be in the form of service tax, excise duty, VAT or some version of custom duty. These taxes are called indirect taxes. Nearly all of these taxes will now be replaced with GST.

But the implementation of GST is not merely a change in tax. GST is an overhaul in the way in which indirect taxes will ‘levy’. Currently, excise duty is levied on manufacture, VAT is levied each time goods change hands and value is added to the product. CST (Central Sales Tax) is charged when goods move between states. This way a finished product can have excise duty, VAT, CST added to its cost before reaching its final consumer. All of these have a different ‘point’ of tax levy. These different taxes will now give way to GST.