GST Council meet: Relief for SMEs, threshold for composition scheme raised

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said exporters will get IGST relief and e-wallet facility for six months

In a relief to small and medium enterprises, the GST Council today raised the turnover threshold to Rs 1 crore for businesses to avail of the composition scheme that allows them to pay 1-5 per cent tax without going through tedious formalities.

With small businesses and traders complaining about the compliance burden the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime has put on them, the panel decided to give option to taxpayers to avail of the so-called Composition Scheme if their turnover is less than Rs 1 crore as against the previous limit of Rs 75 lakh.

The GST Council, headed by