Mangaluru: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will boost inter-State trade and will be advantageous to port towns like Mangaluru, said State Commissioner of Commercial Taxes Ritvik Pandey here on Wednesday.

Speaking at an awareness programme on GST at the Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Pandey said with GST, the present complicated system of producing statutory forms for inter-State trade, will go. “You can see a change in places like Mangaluru which has good business links with several parts of Kerala,” he said.

Mr. Pandey said GST will be purely a transaction tax where invoice becomes important. Both the seller and buyer of goods will be uploading invoices by the 10th of every month. A computer on-line software will calculate the tax on the 15th of every month. As many as 16 taxes, including sales tax, entertainment tax and value added tax, will be merged into GST.

The distinction between goods and services will also go, he said. Independent app developers are coming out with applications. A purely IT-based administration is being set up by the government for seamless implementation of GST, he said. Mr. Pandey said traders, who have given their PAN number with the Commercial Tax Department, will automatically move to GST once it comes into force, he said.

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Corporation Bank Jai Kumar Garg said with robust payment system banks are well prepared for GST.