Skip to main content

Congress States Seek Full GST Revamp

Congress States Seek Full GST Revamp
Highest tax rate should be 18% and petroleum should be part of new tax regime, say state govts ahead of GST Council meet
A day ahead of the GST Council meeting here, Congress-ruled states have sought a complete overhaul of the indirect tax regime with the highest slab at 18% instead of 28%.Congress-ruled states have written to union finance minister Arun Jaitley demanding “nothing less than a complete overhaul of GST structure.“
“The highest rate should not be more than 18%,“ said Karnataka minister Krishna Byre Gowda who is a member of the GST Council, said on Thursday.The government may not be averse to the revamp.“The key agenda to be taken up is revamp of the 28% slab and the composition scheme for businesses as well as restaurants,“ said Bihar finance minister and deputy chief minister Sushil Modi.“Most of the issues will be addressed.“
“The Congress is in favour of inclusion of petroleum into GST,“ Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal said at a press conference called by Assam Pradesh Congress Committee. Kerala finance minister Thomas Issac however is not in favour of including petroleum and real es tate in GST till the time new tax regime settles down.
Gowda said Congress had earlier said the GST rate should not be more than 18% but the government still went ahead and raised the slab.“There are many luxury and sin goods which would be taxed at a higher rate and under that premi se, a rate of 28% was agreed upon by the council. But we find that a lot of items of mass consumption are also in the 28% slab,“ he said.
Many materials used for building a house such as tiles, bricks, cement, sanitary ware and taps are in the 28% slab and it is proving to be a burden for individuals building their homes, he said.
“A builder is different because the builder gets input tax refund whereas a common person does not get any refund. So it is proving to be a costly affair and there is no justification in keeping construction materials in the 28% tax slab,“ he said. Barring real goods of luxury or of sin nature, GST slab should be brought down to 18%, he said.
“That has been our general position for a while. So we hope there will be a positive and a resultoriented discussion on this issue tomorrow. Over time, 12% and 18 % slabs should converge and only a few items should remain in the 28% slab,“ he said.Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy said that handicrafts should be exempted from GST and compliances should be reduced.
He claimed Congress-ruled states had been demanding a re vamp in the GST structure, but the Centre never paid any attention and was now taking steps in view of the assembly elections in Gujarat.The GST Council is likely to review items in the 28% slab, some of which could be moved to 18% and 12% slab. It is also expected to simplify compliances for small and medium enterprises as well as large businesses.
GST, a single tax that subsumed as many as 43 taxes and cesses, was rolled out on July 1. The government has been since trying to address hiccups through periodic GST Council meetings.
Sops Likely for Digital Payments
Guwahati: The GST Council may consider incentives for digital payments in the GST framework to give a push to the digital payments system.The incentives could be in the form of credit or exemptions.The council will take a decision based on the revenue implications of the proposal.
The Economic Times, New Delhi, 10th November 2017

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New income tax slab and rates for new tax regime FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) announced in Budget 2023

  Basic exemption limit has been hiked to Rs.3 lakh from Rs 2.5 currently under the new income tax regime in Budget 2023. Further, the income tax slabs in the new tax regime has been changed. According to the announcement, 5 income tax slabs will be there in FY 2023-24, from 6 income tax slabs currently. A rebate under Section 87A has been enhanced under the new tax regime; from the current income level of Rs.5 lakh to Rs.7 lakh. Thus, individuals opting for the new income tax regime and having an income up to Rs.7 lakh will not pay any taxes   The income tax slabs under the new income tax regime will now be as follows: Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh - 0% tax rate Rs 3 lakh to 6 lakh - 5% Rs 6 lakh to 9 lakh - 10% Rs 9 lakh to Rs 12 lakh - 15% Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh - 20% Above Rs 15 lakh - 30%   The revised Income tax slabs under new tax regime for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)   Income tax slabs under new tax regime Income tax rates under new tax regime O to Rs 3 lakh 0 Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh 5% Rs 6

Jaitley plans to cut MSME tax rate to 25%

Income tax for companies with annual turnover up to ?50 crore has been reduced to 25% from 30% in order to make Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) companies more viable and also to encourage firms to migrate to a company format. This move will benefit 96% or 6.67 lakh of the 6.94 lakh companies filing returns of lower taxation and make MSME sector more competitive as compared with large companies. However, bigger firms have shown their disappointment since the proposal for reducing tax rates was to make Indian firms competitive globally and it is the large firms that are competing globally. The Finance Minister foregone revenue estimate of Rs 7,200 crore per annum for this for this measure. Besides, the Finance Minister refrained from removing or reducing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), a popular demand from India Inc., but provided a higher period of 15 years for carry forward of future credit claims, instead of the existing 10-year period. “It is not practical to rem

Don't forget to verify your income tax return in August: Here's the process

  An ITR return needs to be verified within 120 days of filing of tax return. Now that you have filed your income tax return, remember to verify it because your return filing process is not complete unless you do so. The CBDT has reduced the time limit of ITR verification to 30 days (from 120 days) from the date of return submission. The new rule is applicable for the returns filed online on or after 1st August 2022. E-verification is the most convenient and instant method for verifying your ITR. However, if you prefer not to e-verify, you have the option to verify it by sending a physical copy of the ITR-V. Taxpayers who filed returns by July 31, 2023 but forget to verify their tax returns, will get the following email from the tax department, as per ClearTax. If your ITR is not verified within 30 days of e-filing, it will be considered invalid, and may be liable to pay a Late Fee. Aadhaar OTP | EVC through bank account | EVC through Demat account | Sending duly signed ITR-V through s