The GST council, headed by union finance minister Arun Jaitley is set to meet today in Guwahati. The 23rd meeting of the council, which comes after over 4 months of GST rollout, is expected to conclude on a number of topics. The Central government has been the center of criticism in the recent times as the opposition has taken on to the center, especially in the poll-bound states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
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Off late, there have been rumors that the GST council might announce a number of initiatives including the revision in tax rate as well as to put the highly taxed items in the lower slabs. In a statement recently, GSTN Chairman had called for simplified GST filings. Let’s have a look below at the expected announcements that we might get to hear later in the day, as the GST council concludes their meeting, which is one of the most followed in the recent times.
- Reduced Tax rates on the essential items: After several amendments to the GST structure, there are still a number of items in 28% tax slab. Majority of these items have a direct impact on the lives of general middle-class people and there has been a continuous opposition to those. The GST council has also stated that today’s meeting will consider making all the possible changes. The items in consideration include automobile spare parts, shaving cream, eating at restaurants,
- Quarterly tax returns: More than hitting the revenues or sales of businesses, the implementation of GST has created a lot of hassles, including the monthly returns and paying taxes. Small and Medium Enterprises do not usually spend a lot of time understanding the taxation structure. Earlier, with the yearly filings, the hassle wasn’t much as the CAs had to be contacted just ones and their fee was to be paid just for once in the whole year. However, with the GST in place, the businesses are now required to file their returns monthly. There are over 95% of companies in India, who have less than 5 employees. These companies have been hit the hardest and will be hoping for a lifeline from the announcement which take place today.
- Composition Scheme for small traders: The panel, set up by the government to create a strategy on simplifying GST had earlier recommended reducing the tax rate for exporters and small traders. The council is expected to consider those recommendations to simplify the tax structure for these traders and to keep it at a flat rate of 1 or 2% on the overall turnover.
- Promoting digital payments: The council is also expected to announce incentives on digital payments to boost the transparent business mechanism. Since the demonetization, the government has been pushing the digital payments and the council might announce giving a rebate in the tax payment on the payments done by digital modes including debit and credit card, internet banking, cheque or mobile wallets.
These are the major demands that are being considered by the GST Council. However, we will have to wait till the evening to have a clear idea on the announcement. The Indian Wire will keep you updated. Stay tuned!