The 22nd GST council meets today to revisit compliance rules for businesses. In this meeting, discussions will be made about “structural changes” in the new national tax regime, acting on feedback and complaints from businesses. The meeting held with Arun Jaitley as chairperson.
GST was implemented on 1 July, 2017 by replacing several state and central taxes. Since the day, it was implemented several problems have been faced by people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP chief Amit Shah to resolve issues related to GST. In fact, central bank RBI also cautioned that GST had impacted the manufacturing sector. The RBI governor has suggested simplifying GST to boost growth. The following are the expected points to be discussed in today’s meeting:
Points expected to be discussed
In today’s meeting, it is expected to relax the rule that requires businesses to file three returns every month that has caused much heartburn among small traders and given the opposition to target India’s biggest indirect tax reform.
The GST Council may also suspend the demand for reverse charge mechanism. This rule – which shifts the liability to pay the tax on the buyer rather than the seller – kicks in if a supplier is not registered under Goods and Services Tax to check tax evasion.
As the exporters have to face several issues so relaxation for exporters will be proposed in the council. It will make their working capital locked up in refunds to be released. It is also expected to allow electronic payment of taxes.
In this meeting, GST rates for textiles and some other items may be revised by the council, which is made up of state finance ministers, officials from both states and Centre.
After GST meet
Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu said that there was consensus on raising the threshold for the composition scheme – which allows small traders to pay a standard tax rate – from Rs. 75 lakh in turnover to Rs. 1 crore.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said discussions on the economy and GST should carry on, stressing that such debates were always good for democracy.
