Life of Chartered Accountants under GST

If one looks at GST, it does seems like a boon for consumers – with the promise of lower prices; for businesses – with the promise of a simplified indirect tax regime; and for the Indian Government – with the promise of higher tax revenues. However, there is another stakeholder in the business ecosystem who stands to benefit immensely from the introduction and gradual roll out of GST – the Chartered Accountant.

Here, I am going to list out the key benefits brought about by GST – that will surely make the life of a CA much easier and simpler, in the coming few months and in the future as well.

Increase in clientele

GST is a whole new taxation system in comparison to the present indirect taxation which we have. Since its announcement, businesses have been getting nervous and have reached out to the CA community for help – asking about the applicability of GST on their businesses and the registration process – which opened a few months ago for certain assesses who are currently paying indirect taxes.

In such a scenario, a CA has a huge role of not only advising clients, but also educating them about the GST law. This is crucial, since GST compliance requires a basic understanding of the GST law and its implication on businesses – and that is where a CA can fill the gap. In simple words, more and more businesses will be reaching out to the CA community for GST consultation and other services such as – registration, return filing and accounting under GST. All this, will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of clients for CAs, which in turn will lead to increase in their overall business.

Boon for new Chartered Accountants

GST is a life-saving pill for new as well as aspiring chartered accountants. The simple reason for the same being, that GST is being implemented in India for the first time. In other words, it is something new – both for the experienced as well as for the inexperienced CA and thus, both are on the same boat. Freshly qualified chartered accountants can take advantage of this opportunity and can easily boost their careers riding on the GST wave.
When GST arrives, the scope of work will be enormous – both advisory and compliance related. Most importantly, clients will need to be transitioned smoothly from the old taxation regime to the new one. A smooth transition will lead to more business in a speedy way for clients, since GST is expected to bring down the prices of goods and increase margins. Thus, young CAs who want to make it big, have a great opportunity in front of them to form a good clientele and guide them into the GST era. They will be as much in demand as existing CAs – because of the huge demand of clients who will need support on GST. The new generation of CAs can also take to online forums, and take advantage of the internet penetration to acquire new clients.

In short, with the right knowledge on GST, the life of new chartered accountants in the ecosystem is surely going to be amazing.

Growth of revenue due to compliance

GST will not only increase clientele for CAs, as discussed earlier, but also lead to growth in their revenues. There is, in fact a huge financial benefit that CAs can avail, because of GST.

Let me explain in a simple way – if a client comes for a GST consultation there are chances that he may have other professional requirements too. CAs can take this opportunity to offer bundle of services along with GST, for e.g. accounting services, GST registration, timely return filing, tax payments etc. As far as revenue goes, this strategy will surely work, because it is easier to generate repeat revenue from an existing client who uses different services, compared to obtaining a new client. Most importantly, once a client has been successfully educated and transitioned into GST, the compliance part will start off. Compliance, under GST is a recurring activity and entails a significant increase in revenue for the CA community. This surge in the revenue can make a whole lot of difference in a life of new as well as experienced chartered accountants.

Ease of doing work

In the current tax regime, we have a host of different indirect taxes like Excise Tax, Service Tax, VAT, CST, along with many other taxes and rules. As if these were not enough, every state currently has different VAT Acts and different taxes and rules for e – commerce transactions. This complexity has often posed a problem to chartered accountants and their clients, who are vulnerable to make compliance errors. In short, they could be on the verge of breaking a law without even knowing it.

This complexity and confusion will be entirely removed because of GST, since both Centre and state has to follow one law, leading to lesser confusion, and better tax governance. Thus, post GST roll-out, the workload of the CA community will be highly reduced, and consulting as well as compliance work will become much easier.

Conclusion

Today the entire nation is set to welcome GST with open arms. While that makes me happy; I will be happier once GST becomes fully applicable throughout India post 1^st July. The many benefits GST promises to bring along with it is surely going to translate into growth and development of India – and CAs are going to play a major role in making GST a reality. In a world, where almost everything is going the online way, chartered accountants will continue to remain the backbone of any business – not only because of their expert guidance, but also because for the first time, compliance will be critical for any business. In conclusion, GST promises to make the life of chartered accountants more glorious than ever.