GST Council meet: Sitharaman makes several announcements

June 23, 2024 6 Views No Comment

NEW DELHI, JUNE 23 (MExN): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday chaired the 53rd Goods and Services Tax (GST) council meeting, and made several announcements ahead of the Budget. “There is going to be a rolling out of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication on an all-India basis. This will help us to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases,” she said after the meeting.

Two pilot projects for biometric authentication have already been carried out successfully and now the facility will be rolled out nationwide in a phased manner, the Finance Minister said at a press conference.

To facilitate GST registration, Aadhaar biometric authentication will become mandatory for new registrations across the country, she added. “This will help us to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices,” Sitharaman said.

The council also recommended the waiving of interest and penalty in cases of tax demand notices that have been sent under Section 73, of the GST Act, Sitharaman said.

“In the case of demand notices issued for 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, interest and penalty will be waived off, if tax is paid by March 31, 2025,” she said.

The council has also recommended that the time limit to avail input tax credit in respect of any invoice or debit note under section 16(4) of the CGST Act filed up to the 30-11-2021 for the financial years 17-18, 18-19, 19-20 and 20-21 may be deemed to be 2011 to 2021.

So for the same requisite amendment retrospectively with effect from 1 July 2017, the Finance Minister said.

In order to reduce tax litigation which is expected to benefit both taxpayers and the government, the council recommended a minimum limit for filing appeals of Rs 20 lakh for the appellate tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court.

In another taxpayer-friendly measure, the council has decided to introduce Form GSTR 1A to enable taxpayers to add information they have missed when filing Form GSTR 1.

The council recommended 12 per cent GST on all solar cookers whether it has a single or dual energy source.

Purchase of railway tickets and payments for waiting room and cloak room charges have been exempted from GST. Similarly, no GST will be levied on services provided like battery-operated vehicles and intra-railway services.

The council recommended exempting services by way of hostel accommodation outside educational institutions up to Rs 20,000 per person per month. However, the condition will be the student must have stayed in the hostel for a continuous period of 90 days.

The council prescribed a uniform rate of 12% on all milk cans meaning steel, iron, and aluminum irrespective of the use. It also recommended a uniform GST rate of 12% on all carton boxes and cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper/paper board.

On bringing fuel under GST, the Finance Minister said that the Centre wants to bring petrol and diesel under GST; however, it is the states that have to come together and decide on the matter.

At the moment, the intention of the GST as it was brought in by former finance minister Arun Jaitley is to have the petrol and diesel in GST,” Sitharaman said.

“It is up to the states to decide and come together and get petrol and diesel into GST. The intent of the Central Government is clear, we want the GST to include petrol and diesel,” she added.

Earlier, Sitharaman chaired pre-Budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of states and Union Territories to take their views on board for the upcoming Union Budget 2024-25 here on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Chief Ministers of Goa, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim; Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana; State Finance Ministers and other Ministers; and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories (with Legislature) and the Union Government.