Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday chaired the 15th meeting of the GST Council which has decided tax rates on essential items such as gold, textiles, packaged food, Bidis, Solar panels, Biscuits and footwear among others. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council cleared the pending rules (Transition provisions and Returns) for the rollout of the new indirect tax regime from July 1. All states have agreed to the July 1 rollout timeline except West Bengal.
The brief detail of revised rates are as under:
| 0% | 5% | 12% | 18% | 28% |
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For further details click here.
Moreover, The GST Council also decided to amend the transition rules allowing traders and retailers to make claim of 60 % against the CGST or SGST dues where the tax rate exceeds 18 %. For tax rate below 18 %, it will be retained at 40 %.
For transition stock, the government will refund 100% excise duty for goods costing above INR 25,000 bears a brand name of the manufacturer and are serially numbered like TV, fridge or car chassis.
The GST Council also made changes in formats of returns. Revised formats of returns to be filed under GST has been finalized. These formats can be accessed here and the revised return rules can be accessed here. The format for reporting mismatches, if any, on return filing can be accessed here.
Further, GST Council will set up committee to look into complaints regarding anti-profiteering clause. The committee shall have the power to act on receipt of a written application that a registered person has not passed on the reduction in tax rate or Input Tax Credit (ITC) benefit to the recipient. The Draft Rules would be uploaded in the public domain and after taking the feedback, the Council will consider it for final approval.
The next meeting of the GST Council is scheduled on 11/06/2017 to deliberate and decide on representation received from Trade and Industry and remaining issues, if any.