Bhubaneswar, July 7: The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) - touted as one of the biggest tax reforms in post-Independence India - is all set to change the real-estate sector in the city.

Celebrating the 3rd foundation day of the Association for Odisha Real-Estate Developers (Aford), real-estate experts here spoke about the impact of GST and the Real Estate and Regulation Act (Rera) will have on the housing sector in the city.

"After demonetisation, the implementation of Rera and the GST, the scenario in the real-estate industry has completely changed. The new norms of Rera changed the both the business module and model of the real-estate industry in the city," said Aford president Nisith Ranjan Nanda.

GST has been conceptualised as a "One Nation, One Tax" system that will eliminate the previous tax structure, ease compliances, create uniform tax rates and help reducing additional tax burdens on consumers.

However, the biggest game changer in the GST, according to experts, is the introduction of input tax credit, where credits of input taxes paid at each stage of production or service delivery could be availed in the succeeding stages of value addition.

"The consumer will only bear the GST charged by the last dealer in the supply chain, with set-off benefits at all the earlier stages. A clause in the GST bill under Section 171 clearly states that it is mandatory to pass on the benefit tax reduction due to input tax credit to the final customer," said previous president of Aford Umesh Pattnaik.

Besides the GST, the recently implemented Rera has already started addressing the issue of non-transparency and fixed the accountability on real-estate builders. "The sector has been going through significant transformation in the recent times," said Pattnaik.

Real-estate experts further said that the GST would prove to be a boost for buyers. "GST may not bring down the prices of properties, but it will benefit the stakeholders of the residential real-estate sector due to simplified tax structure and accountability at each stage," said Aford general secretary Devkant Pattnaik.