Home Articles 10 important decisions in the GST Council meet
10 important decisions in the GST Council meet
KEY STORY
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45th GST Council meet was important in many ways. It happened physically in Lucknow first time in almost 2 yrs and for the first time, the proposal to bring petrol and diesel under the GST regime was put on the agenda officially.
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On bringing petrol and diesel, the GST Council was of the view that it wasn’t the right time to bring fuel under GST. However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said several people-centric decisions were taken in the GST Council meet in Lucknow today.
Here are the top 10 decisions.
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States will not get compensation beyond June 2022. The cess that will be collected till April 2026 will be used to repay borrowings and debt servicing made to bridge the gap in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
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There will be no new tax on food delivery apps like Swiggy & Zomato, however, a 5% GST will be levied at the point where the food delivery is made. This means earlier the tax was paid by restaurants but now it will be paid by these aggregators.
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Several important Life-saving drugs Zolgensma and Viltepso used in treatment of Spinal-Muscular Atrophy exempted from GST when imported for personal use.
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Extension of existing concessional GST rates (currently valid till 30th September 2021) on following Covid-19 treatment drugs, up to 31st December 2021.
i. Amphotericin B -nil.
ii.Remdesivir – 5%
iii. Tocilizumab -nil
iv. Anti-coagulants like Heparin – 5%
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Reduction of GST rate to 5% on more Covid-19 treatment drugs, up to 31st December 2021, namely
i. Itolizumab
ii. Posaconazole
iii. Infliximab
iv. Favipiravir
v. Casirivimab & Imdevimab
vi. 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose
vii. Bamlanivimab & Etesevimab.
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GST rate on Keytruda medicine for treatment of cancer reduced from 12% to 5%.
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GST rates on Retro fitment kits for vehicles used by persons with special abilities reduced to 5%.
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GST rate on all kinds of pens will now be 18% vs 12% and 18% being charged till now.
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The Council decided to set up a GoM to examine the issue of correction of inverted duty structure for major sectors; rationalize the rates and review exemptions from the point of view of revenue augmentation, from GST.
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Another GoM will be set up to discuss ways and means of using technology to further improve compliance including monitoring through improved e-way bill systems, e-invoices, FASTag data and strengthening the institutional mechanism for sharing of intelligence and coordinated enforcement actions by the Centre and the states.
