Implications of goods and services tax on indian micro small and medium enterprises

Abstract

This research explores the impact and provides implications of Goods and newlineServices Tax , a comprehensive indirect tax reform on the growth of Indian newlineMSMEs, the fundamental drivers of economic progress and employment in India. newlineThe purpose is to assess the relationships and impact of the knowledge of GST, newlineInput tax credit (ITC), Revenue neutral rate (RNR), and GST compliance on the newlinegrowth of Indian MSMEs. Also, the research focuses on the interceding role of GST newlinecompliance in the relationship between GST knowledge, ITC, RNR and MSMEs newlinegrowth, as well as to discover facets that impede the implementation of effective newlinetax policies, particularly in the context of MSMEs. This study is based on a Crosssectional Survey with 531 MSME participants who are registered under Regular newlinescheme. Structural Equation Modelling - Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) in newlineSmart PLS4 was utilized to examine the relationships amongst the variables, assess newlinethe impact of each variable on the outcome variable, either directly or indirectly and newlineto test the research hypotheses. The results show, GST knowledge, ITC, and RNR newlinehave significant positive effects on GST compliance and on perceived growth of newlineMSMEs. Also, the study found, GST compliance has a complementary partial newlinemediating role in the relation between these factors and perceived growth of newlineMSMEs. Furthermore, GST knowledge, ITC, and RNR have positive effect on newlineperceived MSMEs satisfaction with the GST system. But, the effect of GST newlineknowledge and ITC on perceived satisfaction of MSMEs through GST Compliance newlinewas not significant. This hints that, while knowledge of GST and ITC are important, newlinecomplications in claiming ITC and burdensome compliance requisites can newlineunpleasantly impact compliance and satisfaction with GST. The study also newlineobserved significant variations in perceptions of GST knowledge, ITC, RNR, GST newlineCompliance, MSMEs satisfaction, and MSMEs growth across different newlinedemographic variables.