GST Council Meet

GST Council proposes curbs on transit-state inspections, while pushing wider e-invoicing, stronger data analytics and a facilitative approach to tax compliance

Exporters seek a reassessment mechanism or explicit ITC eligibility for IGST paid through ICEGATE challans to regularise AA and EPCG defaults

The proposed option covers eligible electric vehicle passenger transport and rental services, but comes with restrictions

The GST Council's changes to export definitions and refund rules are expected to benefit IT firms, consulting companies and GCCs by reducing tax disputes and working capital costs

West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta calls the 57th GST Council meeting "very, very positive", highlighting ease of doing business and improved compliance.

The FM said the Council has also taken steps to make the movement of goods smoother by limiting inspections, detention and seizure to officers of the supplier or destination state

The council has removed the power to arrest under GST. It also raised the threshold for prosecution from ₹1 crore to ₹5 crore

Ahead of the GST Council meeting, IT-ITES industry body Nasscom has flagged two outstanding issues on services exports -- the treatment of services supplied through branches abroad, and R&D done in India on prototypes provided by overseas customers. Nasscom Vice President and Head of Public Policy Ashish Aggarwal, in a statement, said that Indian service exporters often serve overseas customers through branches abroad, and added that the way a company organises its overseas presence should not, by itself, decide whether a service supplied from India is treated as an export. "Clarity on this would support competitiveness, release working capital and reduce the litigation the industry has faced over the years," Aggarwal said. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is scheduled to meet on October 8. According to Nasscom, another issue arises when an Indian team carries out R&D, engineering or testing on a prototype or sample that an overseas customer provides in India. "The ...

Move aims to address a key administrative problem faced by large businesses with operations spread across multiple locations

The 57th GST Council meeting has been rescheduled for the second time, and the new date is October 8. In an office memorandum, the GST Council Secretariat said that the meeting is being rescheduled due to "unavoidable circumstances". The Council meeting was scheduled to be held on October 7. The GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state ministers, will, in its meeting on Thursday, discuss changes in registration, returns, and refunds mechanism. It would also discuss policy reforms to resolve GST disputes and improve the flow of input tax credit, with the aim of reducing the time and cost of compliance. According to sources, the GST Council is likely to consider sweeping process reforms to decriminalise GST offences, remove arrest powers of GST officers and make tax compliance easier for businesses, including e-commerce suppliers. This is the second time that the date of the 57th GST Council meeting has been rescheduled. The meeting, w

The proposed structure will comprise the GST Secretariat, implementation committee and a single standing committee, replacing several existing panels and sectoral groups

India's policy calendar this week will track RBI's rate decision, GST process reforms and fresh forex reserves data

Businesses want the GST Council to allow accumulated input tax credit to pay reverse-charge liabilities, saying the cash-payment requirement blocks working capital

The GST Council will meet on September 12 and is likely to consider easing blocked input tax credit rules, refund norms and transfer of unutilised ITC

Industry associations, companies, state governments, central ministries, tax authorities and even judicial rulings can trigger a review of an existing GST rate or product classification.

FMCG, cement, agriculture and other sector companies will be in focus post GST refoms; check all details

The 56th GST Council’s two-day meeting began today. Ministers from eight opposition-ruled states.

The 56th meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state ministers, on Wednesday started deliberations on 'next-gen GST' reforms, which will lower tax rates on items of mass consumption, remove duty inversion in sectors, like textiles, and ease compliance burden for MSMEs. The Council, over the next two days, will discuss reducing the number of slabs in GST to just two -- 5 per cent and 18 per cent -- and removing the 12 per cent and 28 per cent slabs. Also, a special 40 per cent tax has been proposed on a select few items, including tobacco and ultra-luxury goods. As per the sweeping rate change proposal put forth by the Centre and vetted by a group of state finance ministers, as many as 99 per cent of items in the 12 per cent category, such as butter, fruit juices and dry fruits, would move to a 5 per cent tax rate. Similarly, electronic items like ACs, TVs, fridges, and washing machines, as well as other goods like cement, will be .

Finance ministers of opposition-ruled states on Wednesday met ahead of the crucial GST Council meeting, and decided to seek compensation for revenue loss incurred by all states following the implementation of GST rate rejig. Eight opposition-ruled states -- Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal-- had met last week to decide on how their revenues could be protected once the 12 and 28 per cent slabs are removed. Jharkhand Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore said his state will suffer a Rs 2,000 crore revenue loss if the Centre's GST reform proposal of reducing the number of slabs is implemented. "If the Centre agrees to compensate us for whatever loss we would incur, turn we have no issues in approving the agenda before the Council. I don't think the issue will come up for voting, as in a federal structure, it is the responsibility of the Centre to compensate states for revenue loss," Kishore told reporters here after the ...

This article visually summarises, in two tables, how not-simple the GST is, which leads to serious but under-recognised problems of arbitrary and coercive implementation