47th meeting of GST Council to be held in Srinagar on June 28, 29

NEW DELHI: The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will meet on June 28 and 29 in Srinagar.

“The 47th meeting of the GST Council will be held on June 28-29, 2022 (Tuesday & Wednesday) in Srinagar,” the finance minister’s office tweeted. This is the second time that the GST Council meeting is being held in Srinagar. Before the launch of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, 2017, the 14th meeting of the Council was held on May 18 and 19 in the city. GST rates on 1,211 items were approved at the two-day meeting.

The meeting assumes significance as it is expected to discuss the report of the panel of state ministers on rate rationalisation and also the tax rate on casinos, race courses and online gaming.

The GST Council, chaired by the Finance Minister and comprising state counterparts, is also expected to discuss certain simplifications in procedures.

Ahead of the Council meeting, the panel of state ministers on GST rate rationalisation is scheduled to meet on June 17 to discuss possible tweaking in tax rates, sources said.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) is likely to discuss possible changes in tax slabs, the sources said, adding that the final report of the panel would take some more time. The Council had last year set up a seven-member panel of state ministers, headed by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, to suggest ways to augment revenue by rationalising tax rates. The GoM had last met in November 2021.

The GoM has been mandated to review items under inverted duty structure to help minimise refund payout, and review the GST exempt list with an objective to expand the tax base and eliminate breaking of input tax credit (ITC) chain.

Under GST, a four-tier structure exempts or imposes a low tax rate of 5 per cent on essential items and levies the top rate of 28 per cent on cars and demerit goods. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent. Besides, a cess is imposed on the highest slab of 28 per cent on luxury, demerit and sin goods.

The Council will also consider a report of the panel of ministers on applicability of GST on casinos, race courses and online gaming. The group of state ministers unanimously decided on hiking the tax rate on these services to 28 per cent, besides working out a method of valuing these services for the purpose of levying this tax. Currently, casinos, horse racing and online gaming services attract 18 per cent GST.

The Council may also consider some modification in summary return and monthly tax payment form GSTR-3B with a view to check fake input tax credit claims and expedite settlement of genuine ones. According to sources, the modified form will provide clarity with regard to gross input tax credit due to taxpayer, the amount claimed in a particular month and the net amount left in the taxpayer’s ledger.

The GST-C, chaired by the FM and comprising state counterparts, is also expected to discuss certain process simplifications