GST unlikely to get ratified this Assembly session, says Kerala FM

The goods and services tax (GST) Bill is not likely to get ratified during the upcoming session of the Kerala legislative Assembly but would come up for discussion only during the Budget session, due in April next year, Kerala Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac said on Friday.

“Consensus is yet to be arrived at between Centre and states regarding GST rate fixation. Hence, the ratification of the GST Bill will only happen during the Budget session,” Isaac told reporters after the GST Council meeting in New Delhi.

The Goods and Services Tax Council, in its second day of meeting, has struck political consensus on the GST threshold limit.

"The Council today fixed the turnover-based exemption limit from such levies at Rs 20 lakh, but left the decision on fixing the actual tax rates and the finalisation of draft rules for later," the minister said.

Meanwhile, the council has agreed on fixing a tax rate of 1 per cent for turnover of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, he said.

The issue of dual control over small traders was also resolved with states getting exclusive control over all dealers up to a revenue threshold of Rs 1.5 crore.

"The Centre will collect service tax of up to for turnover of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore," Isaac said.

The revenue exemption limit will be Rs 20 lakh for all states with the exception of northeastern and the hill states where the limit will be Rs 10 lakh, he said.

He also said that the base year for calculating compensation would be 2015-16 and the formula for payment of compensation would be deliberated between the state and Central authorities.

The Finance Minister will conduct a seminar on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and its implications for Kerala on September 29 during the Assembly session which is scheduled to begin on September 26.