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GST Council had its meeting at New Delhi after a gap of more than 2 months on 21st July, 2018. After deliberating on various issues, the final decisions made by the council are as follows. 

§  Rationalization of Rates - The list of 28% was pruned significantly with TVs, washing machine, fridge, vacuum cleaners and various other consumer items to be taxed at 18% now instead of 28%. Sanitary napkins have been exempted from GST and so has Rakhis, commerative coins, brooms etc. Detailed list for the same is yet to be announced.

§  Returns- In a marginal relief, the Council also approved quarterly GSTR 1 for suppliers having turnover upto Rs.5 Crores. Tax will still need to be paid monthly however. This will cover approximately 93% of the registered suppliers. The Council also considered single page forms 'Sugam' and 'Sahaj' to make compliance easier for businesses.

§  Reverse charge deferred - Provisions of reverse charge on purchases from unregistered suppliers has been deferred till Sept 30, 2019.

§  Registrations - The Council approved amendments in the GST law to allow a supplier to have multiple registrations of the same vertical in one state.

   (a) Council also approved proposal for composition dealers to provide services uptoRs. 5 lakh or 10% of their turnover (whichever is higher).

   (b) The Council has also decided to allow migration of persons registered under previous regime till August 31, 2019. No late fee would be levied on such returns.

   (c) Suppliers who apply for cancellation would not be required to file returns once they submit the application for cancellation. 

  • E-way Bill - With the E-waybill being a hot topic last week, the Council focused on devising SOP on handling inadvertent errors in e-waybills and standardization of penalties across the state. Council also deliberated on incorporating RFID with GSTN to track movement of goods throughout the country. 
  • Other Issues

(a) ITC refund has been allowed to textile industry for inverted duty structure for purchases made after July 27, 2018.

(b) Threshold for registration is proposed to be increased from Rs. 10 lakhs to Rs. 20 lakhs for 6 north eastern states including Assam, Arunchal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.

(c) Ecommerce operators would only be required to get registration and pay tax if their vendors are not registered.

Posted on: 23-07-2018