GST Council tweaks tax rates; waives interest, penalty on dues for first three years of rollout

New Delhi, June 22

Deciding to tweak tax rates on some services and products, the GST council on Saturday took a host of taxpayer-friendly measures, including waiver of interest and penalty for demand notices issued in the first three years of the GST rollout.

Briefing reporters after the 53rd GST council meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the council had recommended to roll out the biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of GST applicants on pan-India basis in a phased manner. This will help check fraudulent registrations to avail input tax credit and evade taxes.

“The council meeting has taken a number of decisions on trade facilitation, easing compliance burden and giving relief to taxpayers in terms of easing compliance,” Sitharaman said.

The council on Saturday recommended exemption of accommodation services of up to Rs 20,000 per person per month from the GST. This is subject to the condition that these services are supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. “It’s primarily meant for students,” Sitharaman said.

Also the rate of tax collected at source for e-commerce suppliers has been cut from present 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent, which will ease the financial burden on the suppliers. Besides, services provided by the Indian Railways to the public, namely sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms/waiting rooms, cloak room services and battery-operated car services as well as intra-railway transactions would be exempt from the GST.

All types of sprinklers, including fire water sprinklers, will attract 12 per cent GST. Solar cookers, whether these have a single or dual energy source, too will attract a 12 per cent tax.

The minister said the next meeting of the GST council would be held in August in which the Group of Ministers (GoM) on GST rate rationalisation would give a presentation on the status of the work and aspects covered by the panel and work pending before the panel.

In a taxpayer-friendly move, the council has decided to waive interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act (for cases not involving fraud, suppression or wilful misstatement) for the fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, if the full tax demanded is paid by March 31, 2025. The council also decided to refer the standing committee’s recommendation to exempt GST on fertiliser and cut rates on raw materials to the GoM on rate rationalisation. — PTI

‘Centre keen to levy GST on petrol, diesel’

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the intention of the Centre has always been to bring petrol and diesel under the GST, and it was now up to the states to come together and decide on the rate. She said a provision had already been made by former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley by including petrol and diesel in the GST law.