Nirmala Sitharaman made many big announcements regarding GST

GST will not be levied on platform tickets, many big announcements were made in the GST Council meeting

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made several big announcements after the 53rd GST Council meeting held on Saturday. In this, she also announced exemption from GST on the services provided by the Indian Railways. The Finance Minister also informed that facilities like platform tickets, retiring rooms, cloakroom services, battery-operated car services and waiting rooms of the Indian Railways are exempt from GST. In such a situation, now these services will get exemption from GST. She said that it has been suggested to impose 12 percent GST on solar cookers and milk cans made of steel and aluminum. Apart from this, the council has given exemption of up to Rs 20,000 per person per month for hostel services outside educational institutions. She said that this exemption is for students or working class and can be availed by staying for at least 90 days.

At the same time, to reduce government litigation, the GST Council has set a monetary limit for filing appeals by the tax department before various appellate authorities. Nirmala Sitharaman said that it has recommended fixing a monetary limit of Rs 20 lakh for the GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court. If the monetary limit is less than the limit set by the GST Council, the tax authority will usually not appeal. She said that the Council has also recommended that the maximum amount of pre-deposit for filing an appeal before the appellate authority be reduced from Rs 25 crore to Rs 20 crore for CGST and SGST.

Apart from this, in the 53rd meeting of the GST Council on Saturday, it was recommended to reduce GST on all types of carton boxes from 18 percent to 12 percent. A statement said that Himachal Pradesh has been constantly demanding a reduction in GST on apple carton boxes and this reduction will help both gardeners and industry save costs. Industry Minister Harshvardhan Chauhan, representing Himachal Pradesh, thanked the council for taking a unanimous decision on the state’s proposal. The council took several decisions to reduce the compliance burden and complaints of small and medium taxpayers. The state delegation included Commissioner State Tax and Excise Yunus and Additional Commissioner (GST) Rakesh Sharma.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there was no discussion in this meeting about the 28 percent GST being imposed on the online gaming industry. This issue was not on the agenda of the meeting. It is clear from this that the Finance Department does not want to take any decision on this right now. There has also been a discussion about imposing 12 percent GST on all types of sprinklers.

Nirmala Sitharaman made it clear that the central government intends to bring petrol and diesel under the ambit of GST. No amendment is needed for this. States need to join in and decide the GST rate on fuels. She said that a Group of Ministers (GoM) has been formed to rationalize the rates, which will submit a report to the GST Council in August.

The next meeting of the GST Council will now be held in August. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that it was decided to hold the next meeting of the Council in mid-August to discuss the remaining agenda. She said that a Group of Ministers (GoM) has been formed to rationalize the rates, which will report to the GST Council in August.