BENGALURU: The government is looking to get services professionals such as plumbers, electricians and beauticians listed on online platforms onto the Goods and Services Tax Network, in what could be yet another move to bring gig economy workers into the fold of the formal workforce.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is considering making it mandatory for online market places such as Urban Clap, House Joy and Bro4u to only engage service professionals who have a GST Number or GSTIN, senior government officials in the know of the matter told ET.

While the majority of plumbers, electricians, individual fitness trainers that make use of such online platforms will have a turnover of less than Rs 40 lakh annually, exempting them from paying GST, the government’s move to mandate GSTIN is more in line with having a database of such professionals. “Today, these professionals go into people’s houses and there’s absolutely no way for us to identify them,” said a senior government official.

“While they may not have to pay GST or make the quarterly filings, if they are registered on the network, we can trace them if there’s any untoward event,” said a government official who did not want to be named.

He added that companies such as Urban Clap may be asked to keep a log of all the jobs done by these services professionals, which were facilitated through their platform.

Urban Clap declined to comment as there was no formal communication from the government on the issue. Calls and messages to executives from House joy and Bro4u did not yield a response.

 

Source: The Economic Times