Since the implementation of the Goods & Services Tax (GST) in the country, a lot of information has been circulated about it on social media. As the apex body of retailers, Retailers Association of India (RAI) would like to clarify that not all the content that is being circulated is trustworthy or factual.

A case in point is a forward being circulated that urges people to ask for separate bill for every Rs1000 to save money on GST. As per the forward, the slabs are as follows: 0% GST up to Rs1000; 2.5% GST on spends of Rs 1000 to Rs 15000; 6% on Rs 1500 to Rs2500 and 18% on bill of Rs 2500 to Rs 4,500.

Believing the above information as true, consumers across the country are demanding that retailers split the bill amount in multiple bills for evading tax, resulting in long queues, wastage of paper and unnecessary hassles at billing counters.

To stop the spread of misinformation, RAI would like to clarify that as per GST laws, the above slabs do not exist. The slabs given in GST are based on individual product prices and not on total bill amount. Therefore, getting separate bills at supermarkets and hypermarkets will not help save tax.

Prices of groceries at supermarkets are inclusive of taxes. Taxes shown on cash memo are not additional, but already included in the selling price. They are mentioned separately on the bill in compliance with the GST law.