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The GST Council in its 28th meeting reduced rates for a host of consumer centric items like perfumes, cosmetics, refrigerators, washing machines, and small screen TVs, apart from accepting the demand for exempting sanitary napkins. The Council also announced quarterly return-filing for businesses with an annual turnover threshold of upto Rs 5 crore, a move that will benefit 93 per cent of the registered GST taxpayers.
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“Today’s decisions of the GST Council were guided by simplification, rationalisation,” Finance Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters after the meeting. This was the first Council meeting he chaired after taking charge of the Finance Ministry.
The rate cuts/clarifications will lead to a revenue loss of around Rs 8,000-10,000 crore, two senior government officials said.
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The Council also approved amendments to GST-related laws, and deferred the reverse charge mechanism to September 30, 2019. The reverse charge mechanism was already on hold until September 30 this year.
Other items for which the GST rate was cut include footwear, water heaters, electric irons, refrigerators, lithium ion batteries (used in electric vehicles), hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, food appliances and ethanol.
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Tax rate on cut and worked upon Kota stone, sandstone and similar quality of local stones was cut from 18 per cent to 12 per cent with the purpose of avoiding classification disputes. The limit of value of footwear was enhanced from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 for 5 per cent rate.
