These professionals are going to take home hefty bonuses, double digit increment

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not only a tax reform but an opportunity for professionals to showcase their skills and take home hefty packages.

At a time when several companies are cutting costs and laying-off people, GST professionals are on a roll as they will be taking home huge bonuses and lucrative increments.

As India will be adopting the biggest tax reform-GST-the professional services firms are helping several businesses and professionals adopting it.

As availability of experienced talent who are well-versed with the tax system is less, this is leading many consultancies to woo in-house professionals from other departments to join the GST teams and cut the load of pending work.

Companies such as EY, PWC, Deloitte, KPMG and Grant Thornton are offering salary increase of 25-30% to executives who agree to get transferred to the GST teams within the same organisation.

The executives said members of GST teams have got, on average, 20% jump in salary in addition to mid-term bonuses. Average increments at the Big Four this year was 12% this year.

"We have hired a significant number of people and partners. As there is dearth of indirect tax practitioners, we have encouraged practitioners from other parts of services, both tax and non-tax, who may have the desire or aspiration to learn the new and exciting legislation," Vipul Jhaveripartner - Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP-told ET.

As per reports, Deloitte has added 25-30% to GST headcount.

"There is an increasing demand from clients to support them in their transition to GST and, therefore, there is need for increasing the strength of skilled people," Sachin Menon, partner and head, indirect tax, KPMG in India, told ET.