The 36th GST council meeting discussed major topics such as reducing the GST rate applicable to e-mobility solutions and to conclude the GST rate for solar power producing systems and wind turbine projects.
Finally, the long-awaited decisions by the government have been done in the view of constant demand by the public as well as many of the protesting firms. The major demand was to rate cut the electric vehicles and this has been done.
Major Decisions Under Nirmala Sitharaman Chaired GST Council Meeting:
- GST Rate on Electric Vehicles (EV) has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, effective from August 1, 2019.
- GST Rate on Chargers for Electric Vehicles has also been reduced from the earlier 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
- Electric buses are also exempted from GST having a carrying capacity of more than 12 people
- All these decisions will effective from 1st August 2019.
GST Law Amendments:
- The last date to file the intimation of GST Form CMP 02 has been extended from 31.07.2019 to 30.09.2019.
- The last date to file the self-assessed tax in GST Form CMP 08 for the time period April 2019 to June 2019 has been extended from 31.07.2019 to 31.08.2019.
Discussions and Verdicts of the Last 35th Meeting
Last month, a GST council meeting which took place in the presence of state finance ministers as members of the meeting, the issues associated with Goods and Services Tax (GST) concessions on EV, hiring of EV and electric chargers, were turned over to a committee of officers. To this, the committee of officers had to present their recommendations before the Council on 25 July.
Petrol & diesel cars and hybrid vehicles already come in the highest GST rate slab of 28 per cent plus cess.
The GST rate for solar power projects will be discussed in the GST council meeting. In May, the Delhi High Court asked the GST council to review and revamp the taxation format, on the behest of the solar industry.
Bifurcation of GST Rate
At the beginning of the year, the government notified that 70 per cent of contract value would be treated as goods — taxable at 5 per cent, and balance 30 per cent as services — taxable at 18 per cent, to levy taxes on solar power projects.
The solar industry has been appealing for a different ratio for bifurcating the goods and services for imposing GST.
