"Our sales are getting hammered at a time when they would normally be booming," Arindam Lahiri, Monsantos taxation lead in Asia Africa, told Reuters.Officials have discovered that holiday tour operators are charging the new tax not only for services provided in India but also for those offered abroad. He did not respond to a request for comment.1 percent, its weakest pace in more than two years."Monitors, CPUs and other parts of a computer are imported as a single unit," said Poonam Madan, a tax official at HP.NS) were blindsided by further rule changes after the GST went into effect. But a convoluted structure has made many economists mark down their expectations.But for some companies it has been anything but smooth.Airlines, for example, are uncertain whether to tax premium economy seats as economy or business class - bathroom footstools for sale at rates of 5 percent or 12 percent, respectively.Even computer maker HP Inc (HPQ.

New Delhi: Indias nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) was meant to unify the $2 trillion economy and make it easier for companies to transact across state borders. Annual growth slowed in the January-March quarter to 6.While teething troubles were expected, the ensuing chaos has some officials worrying about the repercussions for Asias third-largest economy.Under the GST, desktops and laptops are taxed at 18 percent, while multi-function printers and monitors attract a 28 percent charge. "What rate do we charge - 18 or 28 percent?"Billed as Indias biggest tax reform since independence in 1947, the GST replaced more than a dozen federal and state levies and was meant to unify the country into a single market. The exercise has also become a crash course for tax officials in the anomalies of the new tax structure.If anything, growth dividends are expected to accrue only over time, and not even the governments chief economic adviser, Arvind Subramanian, is daring to estimate its near-term impact.

Nearly a month on, many are finding that doing business is more complicated than ever."This anomaly needs to be fixed urgently. Auto repair shops face a similar quandary as GST rates vary for different jobs.Tobacco firms such as ITC Ltd (ITC.Adding to the pain, a couple of Indian states raised local taxes or imposed new levies in a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modis one nation, one tax mantra. These firms lost more than $7 billion in stock market value last week after the government suddenly hiked cigarette taxes."People are either overcharging or undercharging for their work," said Surinder Paul, who runs one workshop in South Delhi."Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, overseeing the GST rollout, tweeted this week that nearly 8 million businesses were enrolled to pay the tax and the transition "is going on smoothly".N), which is marketing a laptop product to help small businesses comply with the new tax, is seeking clarity. A big test will come in September, when a grace period on filing complete monthly GST returns ends.Ambiguous rules under the new, multi-rate sales tax that went into effect on July 1 have left firms confused on how to price their products.

This has hit sales at companies such as Monsanto (MON.N), whose local seed merchants have no experience of paying tax.A survey by tax software provider Tally Solutions found that more than 40 percent of small businesses were still not up to speed on how the GST works and two-thirds hadnt yet installed compliance software.If growth slows further, federal finances would face pressure.While vegetable seeds remain tax exempt, paddy, cereal and corn seeds now attract 5 percent tax.The GST was originally expected to boost Indias economic growth by as much as 2 percentage points.

The taxs complex structure - four main rates ranging from 5 to 28 percent - has hurt sales and risks denting economic growth and government revenues in the months ahead.New Delhis rationale for the increase was that the GST had unintentionally handed tobacco companies a windfall profit."GST in its current form fails to harmonise tax rates across products or enhance ease of doing business significantly," analysts at Jefferies said in a note.Tax Crash CourseNew Delhi has launched an active outreach programme to educate companies and explain different provisions of the new tax