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Minutes of the 14th GST Council Meeting

The two day 14th GST Council meeting headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was held on 18th and 19th May, 2017 at Srinagar in which the following issues were addressed :

  1. The GST Council had given its approval for 7 sets of Draft Rules dealing with Registration, Payment, Refund, Invoice, Debit & Credit Note, Input Tax Credit, Valuation and Composition. Two Draft GST Rules on Transition provisions and Returns has being sent for legal vetting.
  2. The GST Council had approved the GST rates of 1211 items at nil rate, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% to be levied on certain goods, with essential items of daily use being kept in the lowest bracket of 5%. A decision on the tax rate for remaining 6 categories of items, including Gold, Bidis, Textile, Footwear, Agricultural implements and Packaged/Branded food items, along with tax fitment for categories of services was kept in abeyance.
  3. The Council had broadly approved the rates of GST Compensation Cess to be levied on certain goods such as Pan Masala, Aerated water, Tobacco and Tobacco Product, Cigarettes, Motor Vehicles etc.
  4. A cess of 204% has been proposed for pan masala containing tobacco ?Gutkha?, cigarettes not exceeding 65 mm will attract a cess of 5% plus ? 1,591 per thousand
  5. Small petrol cars with an engine capacity of less than 1200 cc will attract 1% cess, and those with a diesel engine capacity of less than 1500 cc will attract 3% cess. Large cars with an engine capacity greater than 1500 cc, and SUVs with a length of more than 4 m and engine capacity greater than 1500 cc, will attract a cess of 15%. Motorcycles with an engine capacity of more than 350 cc will attract 3% cess and an equal amount of levy will be applied on aircraft for personal use and yachts and other vessels for pleasure or sports.
  6. The GST Council had broadly approved the GST rates for services at Nil, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28% for services including telecom, insurance, hotels and restaurants.
  7. The list of services that will be under reverse charge had been approved by the GST Council such as goods transport agency services, services by an individual advocate or firm of advocates by way of legal services, directly or indirectly, services by a director of a company or a body corporate, import of services, radio taxi or passenger transport services provided through electronic commerce operator etc.

The next meeting of the GST council scheduled on 3rd June, 2017 at New Delhi which will address the following issues:

  1. The tax on remaining 6 categories of goods along with taxation of lottery service and the approval of the remaining 2 Draft GST Rules of transition provision and returns will be taken up for discussion.
  2. In this regard Mr. Jaitley has commeted that ?Most of the work related to rollout of GST has been completed. Only a few things remain. In goods category, six categories are still to be decided. The residuary rules will be put up for public comments and they need to be approved. We will also be looking at the presentation of the state of preparedness of the GSTN.? All these series of events are going to enlighten the pave for rolling out of the biggest indirect tax reform from July 1, 2017.

 

Source: www.hindustantimes.com