48th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST / GST) Council concluded
Recently the Union Finance Minister has chaired the 48th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST / GST) Council.
The following steps have been taken for ease of doing business in the GST Council meeting :
- Certain offenses mentioned under section 132 of the Central GST Act, 2017 have been recommended to be declared non-offences.
- These offenses include restraining or obstructing an officer in the discharge of his duties, willfully mutilating material evidence, failure to provide information, etc.
- The minimum threshold of tax amount for initiating prosecution has been increased from Rs.1 crore to Rs.2 crore.
- The compounding amount has been reduced from the existing range of 50 per cent to 150 per cent of the tax amount to between 25 per cent and 100 per cent.
- Compounding of offense means paying monetary compensation instead of facing prosecution.
- GST has been made zero on pulses peels. Earlier it used to attract 5 percent GST.
- GST on ethyl alcohol (bio fuel) has been reduced from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
No decision was taken on the following matters-
- imposition of any new tax on tobacco and gutkha.
- bringing online gaming, casino and horse racing under the ambit of GST;
- Setting up of tribunals for settlement of disputes with tax payers etc.
GST Council
- GST Council is a constitutional body. It has been established by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act by adding Article 279A (1) to the Constitution.
- Its purpose is to solve different issues related to GST. The GST Council is a joint forum of the Center and the States.
- The Union Finance Minister is its chairman. Other members include the Union Minister of State for Revenue or Finance, besides the Minister in charge of Finance or Taxation of each State Government or any other Minister (Member) nominated by the State Government.
Work:
- The Council, as per Article 279, is “to make recommendations to the Center and the States on important issues relating to GST”.
- As such, GST on goods and services may be subject to or exempted under the Model GST laws”.
- It also decides on the different rate slabs of GST.
Source – The Hindu
