The 39^th GST Council met under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on  14th March 2020

Key Decisions are as follows

• Recommendations of GST council related to law & procedure

• Recommendations of GST council related to changes in GST rates on supply of goods and services
  

• Recommendations of GST Council related on IT Roadmap

The 37^thGST Council met in Goa today under the Chairmanship of Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman  . The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur besides Chief Minister of Goa Shri Pramod Sawant,  Finance Ministers of States & UTs and seniors officers of the Ministry of Finance .

The council   took the following decisions in respect to rates relating to goods.

1. GST rates reduction, –

1. 18% to 12% on parts of Slide Fasteners

2. 18% to 5% on Marine Fuel 0.5% (FO)

3. 12% to 5% on Wet Grinders(consisting stone as a grinder)

4. 5% to Nil on:-

1. Dried tamarind
2. Plates and cups made up of leaves/ flowers/bark

5. 3% to 0.25% on cut and polished semi- precious stones

6. Applicable rate to 5% on specified goods for petroleum operations undertaken under Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP)

7. Exemptions from GST/IGST on:-

1. imports of specified defence goods not being manufactured indigenously (upto 2024)
2. supply of goods and services to FIFA and other specified persons for organizing the Under-17 Women’s Football World Cup in India.
3.  supply of goods and services to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) for specified projects in India.

2. GST rates have been recommended to be increased from, –

1. 5% to 12% on goods, falling under chapter 86 of tariff like railway wagons, coaches, rolling stock (without refund of accumulated ITC). This is to address the concern of ITC accumulation with suppliers of these goods.
2. 18% to 28% +12% compensation cess on caffeinated Beverages

3. Measures for Export Promotion

1. Exemption from GST/IGST:-

1. at the time of import on Silver/Platinum by specified nominated agencies
2. supply of Silver/Platinum by specified nominated agency to exporters for exports of Jewellery,

2. Inclusion of Diamond India Limited (DIL) in the list of nominated agencies eligible for IGST exemption on imports of Gold/ Silver/Platinum so as to supply at Nil GST to Jewellery exporters.

4. A uniform GST rate of 12% on Polypropylene/Polyethylene Woven and Non- Woven Bags and sacks, whether or not laminated, of a kind used for packing of goods (from present rates of 5%/12%/18%)

5. GST concession in certain cases for specific period: –

1. Exemption to Fishmeal for the period 01.07.17 to 30.09.19. There were doubts as regards taxability offishmeal in view of the interpretational issues. However, any tax collected for this period shall be required to be deposited.

2. 12% GST duringthe period 1.07.2017 to 31.12.2018, on pulley, wheels and other parts (falling under Heading 8483) and used as parts of agricultural machinery.

6. Passenger vehicles of engine capacity 1500 cc in case of diesel, 1200 cc in case of petroland length not exceeding 4000mm designed for carrying upto 9 persons attract compensation cess of 1% for petrol and 3% for diesel vehicle. Council recommended same compensation cess rate for vehicles having these specifications (length and engine capacity) but designed for carrying more than 10 persons but upto 13 persons. (Presently these vehicles attract compensation cess at the rate of 15%)

7. Other miscellaneous Changes:

• Aerated drink manufacturers shall be excluded from compositionscheme.
• Option to pay GST at the rate of 18% on transaction value at the time of disposal of specified goods for petroleum operations (on which concessional GST rate of 5% was paid at the time of original supply) provided that the goods are certified by Director General Hydrocarbon(DGH) as non-serviceable.
• Restriction on refund of compensation cess on tobacco products (in case of inverted duty structure)
• Prescribing modalities for allowing concessions on spare parts imported temporarily by foreign airlines for repair of their aircraft, while in India in transit in terms of the Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation.
• Certain other changes of technical nature for the sake of clarity in application of notification.

8. Clarifications as regards applicability of GST rate in respect of certain goods recommended by GST Council which inter-alia includes: 
   1. 1. Mere heating ofleguminous vegetables (gram/lentil) for removing moisture, or to soften and puff it or removing the skin, and not subjecting to any other processing or addition of any other ingredients (salt, oil etc.) would be classified under HS code 0713.

2. All “mechanical sprayers” falling under HS Code 8424 would attract 12% GST.
3. Parts like Solar Evacuation tubes for solar power based devices like solar water heater, solar steam, generation systems, would be eligible to 5% GST rate.

4. Exclusive parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with a medical device (falling under headings 9018, 9019, 9021 or 9022) would fall in respective headings and attract GST at the concessional rate of 12%.
5. Almond milk is classifiable under HS code 22029990 and attracts GST rate of 18%.
6. Imported stores for Navy would be entitled to exemption from IGST

The rate changes shall be made effective with effect from 1^st October, 2019.

[This note presents the decision of the GST Council in simple language for ease of understanding, which would be given effect to through Gazette notifications/circulars, which shall have force of law.]

33 rd GST Council Meeting (part-2) held on 24.02.2019

Real estate sector is one of the largest contributors to the national GDP and provides employment opportunity to large numbers of people. “Housing for All by 2022” envisions that every citizen would have a house and the urban areas would be free of slums. There are reports of slowdown in the sector and low off-take of under-construction houses which needs to be addressed. To boost the residential segment of the real estate sector, following recommendations were made by the GST Council in its 33^rd meeting held today:

2. GST rate:
   1. GST shall be levied at effective GST rate of 5% without ITC on residential properties outside affordable segment;
   2. GST shall be levied at effective GST of 1% without ITC on affordable housing properties.

3. Effective date: The new rate shall become applicable from 1^st of April, 2019.

4. Definition of affordable housing shall be:-

A residential house/flat of carpet area of upto 90 sqm in non-metropolitan cities/towns and 60 sqm in metropolitan cities having value upto Rs. 45 lacs (both for metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities).

Metropolitan Cities are Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR (limited to Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Faridabad), Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai (whole of MMR).

5. GST exemption on TDR/ JDA, long term lease (premium), FSI:

Intermediate tax on development right, such as TDR, JDA, lease (premium), FSI shall be exempted only for such residential property on which GST is payable.

6. Details of the scheme shall be worked out by an officers committee and shall be approved by the GST Council in a meeting to be called specifically for this purpose.

7. Advantages of the recommendations made:

The new tax rate in principle was approved by the Council taking into consideration the following advantages:-

• The buyer of house gets a fair price and affordable housing gets very attractive with GST @ 1%.
• Interest of the buyer/consumer gets protected; ITC benefits not being passed to them shall become a non-issue.
• Cash flow problem for the sector is addressed by exemption of GST on development rights, long term lease (premium), FSI etc.
• Unutilized ITC, which used to become cost at the end of the project gets removed and should lead to better pricing.
• Tax structure and tax compliance becomes simpler for builders.

8. GST Council decided that the issue of tax rate on lottery needs further discussion in the GoM constituted in this regard.

The decisions of the GST Council have been presented in this note in simple language for easy understanding.  The same would be given effect to through Gazette notifications/ circulars which alone shall have force of law.

33 rd GST Council Meeting (part-1) held on 20.02.2019

First part of 33rd Meeting of the GST Council held on 20.02.2019 under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Shri Arunjaitley through video conferencing

33rd Meeting to continue on 24th Feb 2019

In First part of 33rd GST council meeting ,the council has deferred the decision on real estate. The meeting has been adjourned and will be held in Delhi on 24th February 2019 (sunday).

“I have always followed the approach of moving as per consensus and some of the states wanted meeting where members are physically present, keeping the idea of consensus in mind, I adjourn the meeting to Sunday (February 24),” Jaitley said after the meeting.

GSTR 3B Due date for January 2019 Extended

The council has also extended due date of filing  GSTR-3B of January to 22nd February for all states and 28th Feb for Jammu and Kashmir.

Key Discussions in 33rd GST Council Meeting

One of the panels, headed by Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has recommended 5 percent GST on under-construction properties and 3 percent tax in case of affordable housing category.However, in both cases, input tax credit (ITC) cannot be claimed.

The panel headed by Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has uniformity of taxation on lottery under GST and has recommended 18 or 28 percent tax rate. The final called will be taken by the Council.

34th GST Council Meeting Date

will be announced shortly

Refer All GST Council Meetings held till date

January 10, 2019

The GST Council in its 32 nd meeting held today at New Delhi gave approval for the following:

a. Changes made by CGST (Amendment) Act,2018, IGST (Amendment) Act, 2018, UTGST (Amendment) Act, 2018 and GST (Compensation to States) Amendment Act, 2018 along with amendments in CGST Rules, notifications and Circulars issued earlier and the corresponding changes in SGST Acts would be notified w.e.f. 01.02.2019.

b. The last date for passing the examination for GST Practitioners to be extended till 31.12.2019 for those GST Practitioners who have enrolled under rule 83(1)(b) i.e. who were sales tax practitioner or tax return preparer under the existing law for a period of not less than five years.

Note: The decisions of the GST Council have been presented in this release in simple language for easy understanding. The same would be given effect to through Gazette notifications/ circulars which alone shall have the force of law.