The 48th Goods and Service Taxes (GST) Council meeting was chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and began this morning in New Delhi. According to the tweet by the Ministry of Finance, along with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Finance Ministers of other states and UTs and senior officials from the Union and State Government were also attending the meeting. Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the meeting virtually.
The basic ideas that were discussed at the meeting include tax rates and rules that are governed by the GST Council under the leadership of the Union Finance Minister and FMs of the states and UTs.
During the discussion, it was held that as part of decriminalizing offences, there will be an increase in the monetary threshold from 5 crores to 20 crores for launching legal proceedings against offenders. Furthermore, the fee payable by the taxpayers for compounding of GST offences will be lowered to 25% of the tax amount. A tax evasion report by the Tobacco industry was discussed along with plausible solutions to curb the evasion.
Group of Ministers (GoM) proposed an increase in indirect taxes from the current 18% to 28% on online gaming, casinos and horse-racing. GST Appellate Tribunals (GSTATs) are to be set up with a retired Supreme Court judge as its President, two judicial members and technical members from both the Centre and the States were discussed. The GST Council will also give further clarity on the rate applicability of a few specific goods and services.
