The GST Council did not take up the agenda of setting the appellate tribunal
The GST Council, which is headed by the Union finance minister and comprises representatives of all states and UTs, took several decisions on Saturday. It recommended to decriminalise certain offences and bring down GST on certain items to nil. The three kinds of offences to be decriminalised that have been recommended by the Council are related to — obstruction or preventing any officer in the discharge of his duties; deliberate tempering of material evidence; and failure to supply the information.
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Addressing the media after the 48th GST Council meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the meeting had 15 items on agenda, of which 8 were completed and the rest will be finished at the next meeting.
Sitharaman added that the Council did not take up the agenda of setting the appellate tribunal GSTAT due to paucity of time. It also could not discuss the taxation on tobacco and gutkha.
Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said GST on online gaming and casinos was not discussed as the report of a Group of Ministers (GoM), chaired by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, on the issue submitted its report only a couple of days ago.
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GST Council’s Major Decisions Today:
1) Certain offences decriminalised
2) Threshold tax amount limit for launching a prosecution in any criminal offence defined under the GST laws increased from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore for all offences except fake invoices.
3) To decrease the workload of courts and ease of doing business, the fee payable by taxpayer for compounding of GST offences has been reduced to 100 per cent of the tax amount, from up to 150 per cent currently
4) The GST Council also recommended to reduced the tax rate on husk of pulses, including chilka and concentrates to nil, compared with 5 per cent currently.
The Council conducted its 48th meeting on Saturday via videoconferencing.
