As the Union Budget is in the line and about to present after two weeks, the GST Council is considering to come down the tax rates for some products, as per the report the number is 80, and thinking over to include the real estate under GST in 25th GST council meeting.
This meeting is important as it comes after the GST revenue collection facing down in last two months. In November, the revenue collection registered Rs 80,808 crore while in July it was Rs 94,063 crore.
Live Updates in GST Council 25th Meeting
07:15 PM – Finance Minister India Arun Jaitley says “necessary to build some anti-evasion measures” He considered GST eway bill one of them
07:13 PM – GSTR 3B return filing to be continued till further announcement
07:12 PM – Petrol under GST will be decided at the next GST Council meeting
07:06 PM – 40 handicrafts tax slab will be decided in the coming few days by the council
07:04 PM – The tax rate reduction on all the items and services will be applicable from 25th January 2018
06:59 PM – Composition dealers deposited lesser tax than expected as stated by Finance minister
06:55 PM – Arun Jaitley mentioned that 15 states to apply intrastate GST eway bill on the same date i.e. on 1st February 2018
06:40 PM – Items and services re-considered under 18% slab rate from 28% tax rate
06:30 PM – Next meeting through video conferencing in 10 days
06:05 PM – No decisions on return filing simplifications today
06:00 PM – Uttarakhand FM cleared that 29 handicrafts items reduced to 0% GST
2:05 PM – Nandan Nilekani presents suggestions on GST return filings
1:45 PM – GST Council holds 35,000 crores for distribution among centre and states as an IGST collection dividend (Source: CNBC)
Highlights of Expectation from 25th GST council meeting:
Inclusion of Real Estate
It is expected that this time the meeting will discuss the inclusion of real estate in Goods and Services Tax, the GST council can also announce the rollout date for the real estate. As per the reports, the GST council can levy a 12% GST rate for the real estate, include registration charges and stamp duty under GST. It is expected that with the new financial year from April 1, the real estate under GST will also roll out.
A senior government official mentioned in a statement, “Discussion of real estate inclusion in GST is the key agenda of the GST Council which is scheduled to meet on January 18th.”
Tweaks in GST Tax Rates
As union budget cannot tweak the indirect tax rates more because of GST implementation, the GST council can declare tax reductions and relaxations for products and services used by common man, comprising agriculture products, household goods, and housing sector products like steel and cement.
E-Way Bills Can Be Out
During the last GST council meeting in December, it was announced to implement e-way bills from February 1. So, this time we can expect the council to discuss the mechanism of the e-way bill to implement it in a better manner from the next month.
Read Also: GST E Way Bill Registration Guide on Government Portal in India
Simplification in Return Form
- As most of taxpayers complaint about the filing procedure being very confusing, this meeting may announce some relief from filing GST returns procedures. It is possible that GST council may combine GSTR 1, GSTR 2 and GSTR 3 forms into a single form
- Obviously, it will be relaxing step towards taxpayers because now they file 37 returns in a year and after this move, they will file only 12 in a year
- Although, the due dates are extended by the government many times in favour to relief businesses in filing GST returns after GST rollout