India, June 14 -- GST was sold as a simple value added tax where businesses get credit for the tax they pay on their inputs.

Your company wants to reward teams with an offsite in Shillong or Andamans-clean air, green hills or turquoise water, a nice change from the usual conference rooms in Gurugram or Bengaluru. The business case is looking good and the employees are all excited. But when the finance team crunches the numbers, there's an unseen line item that tips the scales: how India's Goods and Services Tax (GST) treats hotel and venue bills outside the company's "home" states.

GST was sold as a simple value-added tax where businesses get credit for the tax they pay on their inputs and only the final consumer has to bear the burden....