The Centre is against giving any shock in the first year of the rollout by bringing in new services.
"To begin with, people could face some difficulties because any changeover has its own problems. But it will settle down and the country will benefit from the new indirect tax regime," Jaitley said at an event organised by ABP News.
Finance ministers from Congress-ruled states say they have alerted the Centre about the problems in GST for several months, but it is only now with the Gujarat assembly election around the corner that the Modi regime has started heeding these suggestions.
Several opposition ruled states expressed concern over Centre's decision to allow enforcement directorate (ED) to share information with GST Network, with finance minister of AAP-ruled Punjab Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday saying it amounts to 'tax terrorism' and scaring small business. The finance ministry, through a notification, brought in an amendment to the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, as per which GSTN, which handles the technology backbone of Goods and Services Tax, has been included in the list of entities with which ED will share information. At the 50th GST Council meeting on Tuesday, Aam-Aadmi Party ruled Delhi and Punjab voiced concerns over the notification and demanded a discussion.
GST Council decides to extend compensation cess beyond June 2022.
The GST Council on Friday left taxes on COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies unchanged after the BJP- and Opposition-ruled states sparred over whether tax cut benefits will reach the common man. Congress and other Opposition ruled states have been demanding a reduction in taxes but the central government felt the move may not result in tangible gains for people. "It is one thing to rush to say - do this, it will benefit the common man. But when the technical, fitment and law committees go into the details, you realise that that could have collateral impact on many others," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. "I am not talking about the revenue generation aspect, but how many other items will get included in it as a result of which how you are going to implement it," she added.
While Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated her stand that the central government was committed to cooperative federalism, finance ministers of non-BJP ruled states such as Punjab and Kerala said she refused to give a categorical assurance that states will be paid compensation on time.
The stalemate over compensating states for the shortfall in GST collections continued on Monday with a meeting of the GST Council ending without reaching any consensus. The panel, which is the highest decision-making body on indirect taxes, for the second time in a week failed to reach a consensus on the Centre's proposal of states borrowing against future GST collections to make up for the shortfall.
Full exemption for all health insurance premiums and reinsurance or a reduction in the GST rate from 18% to 5% on health insurance services is likely.
The next meeting of the GST Council on January 16 would discuss the issue of jurisdiction over assessees as well as try to reach a finality on taxation of territorial waters
The GST Council is scheduled to meet next on November 10 and may consider lowering tax rates on a host of goods such as handmade furniture, plastic products and daily use items like shampoo.
'We crossed Rs 1.7 trillion in three months this financial year.'
CAG recommended fixing a definite time frame for rolling out simplified GST return forms.
The panel, headed by the Union finance minister and comprising of representatives of all states and UTs, decided on tax rate based on recommendation of a group of ministers that looked at taxing casinos, horse racing and online gaming.
Once implemented, customers making payments using Rupay card or BHIM UPI will get a cashback of 20 per cent of the total GST amount, subject to a maximum of Rs 100.
'From the tiniest to mid-level organisations and even some at the lower end of the large-scale ones would say that computerisation and the extensive documentation and regulatory requirements for GST have made the compliance process worse in many cases.'
India's Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection surged to Rs 1.30 lakh crore in October, the second highest since its implementation in July 2017, indicating economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and impact of festive demand, a finance ministry statement said on Monday. The highest GST collection of Rs 1.41 lakh crore was recorded in April 2021. This is the fourth time in a row when the GST collection was upwards of Rs 1 lakh crore. The collection from GST was Rs 1.17 lakh crore in September, 2021.
The final rate will be worked out by the GST Council, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday.
All GST anti-profiteering complaints would be dealt with by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) from December 1 as the extended tenure of National Anti-profiteering Authority ends this month, an official said on Tuesday. A notification in this regard is expected to be issued by the finance ministry later this month, the official added. The National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) was set up in November 2017 under Section 171A of Goods and Services Tax (GST) law to check unfair profiteering activities by registered suppliers.
Response to Rahul yatras in Gujarat forced GST cuts, says Congress. It reflects Modi's willingness to listen, says BJP.
GST Council has also reached consensus on the definition of revenue to compensate states for revenue loss
The shortfall in GST compensation payable to states in the current fiscal is estimated at Rs 2.69 lakh crore, of which Rs 1.58 lakh crore would have to be borrowed this year. The Centre expects to collect over Rs 1.11 lakh crore through cess on luxury, demerit and sin goods which will be given to the states to compensate them for the shortfall in revenue arising out of GST implementation. The remaining Rs 1.58 lakh crore would have to be borrowed to meet the promised compensation to states under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
Amid record-high fuel prices, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said there is no proposal as of now to bring crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel (ATF) and natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST). When the GST was introduced on July 1, 2017, amalgamating over a dozen central and state levies, five commodities - crude oil, natural gas, petrol, diesel, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) - were kept out of its purview given the revenue dependence of the central and state governments on this sector. This meant that the central government continued to levy excise duty on them while state governments charged VAT. These taxes, with excise duty, in particular, have been raised periodically.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will likely consider on Saturday a GST rate cut for Covid-19 relief essentials and drugs for treating the black fungus disease and might leave the vaccines untouched. The meeting is being held following a report submitted by a Group of Ministers (GoM) to the GST Council on Monday. The GoM, set up by the Council on May 28, was mandated to look at tax exemption and concessions on various Covid items including vaccines, drugs, and equipment.
Restricting the input credit is not a good idea for any sector, particularly real estate which requires more formalisation.
The council also cut GST rates on affordable housing to 1 per cent from the current 8 per cent.
Fresh plans of privatisation or divestment in central public sector enterprises and public sector banks might take a back seat this financial year because these may require a large consensus among coalition partners.
A 5 per cent GST rate kicked in on Monday on pre-packed and labelled food items such as cereals, pulses and flour weighing less than 25 kg.
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The finance ministry has suggested forming a GST council, headed by the Union finance minister, to address disputes between the Centre and the states in the proposed GST regime.
Certain clarifications by the GST Council, such as tax rates on ice cream parlours and royalty paid to state governments over mineral rights, may turn out to be contentious and lead to litigation, feel some experts. The council, at its meeting in Lucknow on Friday, had clarified that ice cream parlours will attract goods and services tax (GST). The clarification said these parlours sell already manufactured ice cream and such supply would draw 18 per cent tax.
The government introduced the 122nd Constitution amendment Bill.
The Director General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) has slapped its heftiest tax notice of Rs 21,000 crore on Bengaluru-based Gameskraft Technology (GTPL) for allegedly evading GST on the betting amount. Gameskraft has dubbed the notice a "departure from the well-established law of the land". The company is accused of promoting online betting through card, casual and fantasy games like Rummy Culture, Gamezy and Rummy Time.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said GST compensation to some states is delayed due to non-availability of AG's authenticated certificate, and that Kerala has not sent even a single such certificate since 2017-18. Replying to a supplementary question, she also said that Rs 86,912 crore has been released for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation payable to all states up to May 31, 2022. She said as per law, GST Council decides to whom the GST compensation is to be released, not by the central government.
Many states are open to the idea of petrol and diesel being brought under the goods and services tax (GST) regime - contrary to the perception that they are averse to it - but they want a concrete proposal, including a compensation mechanism, from the Centre. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra says while the issue can be discussed, the Centre may not be keen to bring the change because it earns "much more" from taxes on petrol and diesel. "(The peak rate of) GST is 28 per cent. Under the regime, the Centre would only get 14 per cent. "So, definitely, the Union government does not want GST on fuel. It is all lies. Currently, they are in a very cozy place," Mitra said.
These have to be passed in this session to meet the September 15 deadline for switching over to the new indirect tax regime, Jaitley said.
Online skill-based gaming industry has made a case for retaining the service under 18 per cent GST slab instead of putting it into the highest 28 per cent tax rate category, saying the move will badly hit the $2.2-billion sector. The increase in taxation would not only have catastrophic impact on the industry but also encourage offshore operators who would circumvent Indian tax jurisdiction by hosting games in some other country, Games24x7 Co-CEO Trivikraman Thampy said. "It would be a triple whammy -- the industry loses out, the government loses out on tax revenue and players loses out as they would be exposed to unscrupulous operators," he said.
For the week, the Sensex recorded a fall of 371 points, or 1.10 per cent, and the NSE Nifty 130.75 points, or 1.25 per cent.
The government on Monday announced the implementation of a 5 per cent uniform IGST rate on all aircraft and aircraft engine parts to boost the industry. The decision, which comes into force with immediate effect, marks a significant milestone for the domestic Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) industry, aimed at making India a global aviation hub, an official release said. Earlier, IGST rates on all aircraft and engine parts were ranging from 5 per cent to 28 per cent.
In a first, Opposition-ruled states on Saturday got the Centre to delete from the records three minutes of the last GST Council meeting that provided for tweaking of agreed criteria for division of taxpayers under the Goods and Service Tax regime.
