GST implementation: Govt. announces compensation to states for five years

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced the panels' consensus on significant issues including fixing the threshold limit for registration and full compensation for five years to the states for losses on account of the GST implementation.

The GST Council is expected to endorse the remaining two crucial bills including the State GST (SGST) and Union Territory GST (UTGST) here today.

The Council's nod will act as another decisive step in the run up to the implementation of the overhauled tax regime from July 1.

Also, it is likely that the council will add more cess to boost resources to compensate states. It will include Infra cess, Oil industry Development cess and Swachh Bharat cess amongst others.

Earlier, the GST Council chaired by Jaitley approved the draft CGST Bill and the draft I GST Bill as vetted by the Union Law Ministry. It cleared the deck for the Central Government to take these two Bills to the Parliament for their passage in the ongoing Budget Session.