The goods and services tax (GST) constitutional amendment Bill crossed an important landmark with Odisha becoming the 16th state to ratify the Bill the requirement of 50 percent of states and UTs ratifying it has been completed.

• >>Dubbed as the biggest tax reform in India, GST will subsume most indirect taxes, like excise duty, service tax and VAT.

• >>The ratification of the bill has been completed ahead of the schedule. The Bill will now be placed before President Pranab Mukherjee for his assent. This will pave the way for constituting the GST Council.

• >>The Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST was passed by Parliament on August 8 2016. The government is planning to roll out the indirect tax regime from April 1 2017.

• >>While the Centre has to draft the CGST and IGST laws, the states will have to come up with an SGST law.

• >>But before supporting legislations go to Parliament in November, the state finance ministers have to agree on a GST rate, tax slabs and exempted goods and services.

• >>GST rate will have to be approved by the GST Council, comprising the Union Finance Minister and representatives of all the 31 states and UTs.

• >>Assam was the first state to ratify the GST Bill. Other states that have approved the bill are Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, and Nagaland.