A Comparative Study of Import and Export of Services under Services Tax and GST Law

Import and export of services are two important constituents of international trade. Our GDP, employment growth rate, balance of trade and resource allocation is largely guided by import and export. Due to outstanding growth of service sector in India, it is of paramount importance that a suitable taxation policy be devised conducive to trade and business growth of India. Earlier import and export of services were subject to provisions of services tax law. Now Goods and Services tax has been introduced in India with effect from 1st July, 2017 which also includes in its ambit the provisions relating to import and export of services. Many new provisions have been incorporated to boost import and export of services as compared to services tax law. The basic objective of this paper is to make a comparative study of provisions contained in GST law with services tax law relating to import and export of services and study the related consequences on the growth of services in India.