GST Council Meet on Friday Oct 06,2017 - Relief To Small And Medium Businesses,Exporters

The GST Council on Friday Oct 06,2017 approved changes to give relief to small and medium businesses on filing and payment of taxes, eased rules for exporters and cut tax rates on more than two dozen items as the government looks to boost the economic growth

Quarterly filing for small firms

Businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore, which constitute 90 per cent of the taxpayer base but pay only 5-6 per cent of total tax, have been allowed to file returns and pay tax once in a quarter rather than monthly. Traders and small firms had been up in arms against the GST regime as they found the monthly filing drill to be exhaustive. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the GST council has taken stock and addressed the concerns of small businesses. 

GST on AC restaurants to go down

Eating out is set to become cheaper as the GST council has given its in-principle nod to cutting the rate from 18 per cent to 12 per cent. A group of ministers will study taxation regime for restaurants, especially on bifurcation on basis of AC & non-AC restaurants. 

Tax rates of 27 items cut

GST rates of 27 items reviewed by the GST Council, including sliced dry mangoes, khakhra, unbranded namkeen, chapati, have been cut from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. GST rate on some stationery items, diesel engine parts has been reduced to 18% from 28%. Job works like zari, imitation, food items and printing items would attract 5 per cent tax instead of 12 per cent.

Here is the full list of items which are set to become cheaper after the latest set of tax cuts, according to Mr Jaitley:

S No.	Item Name	Present GST Rate	GST Rate Recommended
1.	Mangoes sliced dried	12%	5%
2.	Khakra and plain chapati / roti	12%	5%
3.	Food preparations put up in unit containers and intended for free distribution to economically weaker sections of the society under a programme dulyapproved by the Central Government or any State Government, subject to specified conditions	18%	5 %
4.	Namkeens other than those put up in unit container and, - (a) bearing a registered brand name; or (b) bearing a brand name on which an actionable claim or enforceable right in a court of law is available [other than those where any actionable claim or enforceable right in respect of such brand name has been foregone voluntarily	12%	5%
5.	Imposing GST only on the net quantity of superior kerosene oil [SKO] retained for the manufacture of Linear Alkyl Benzene [LAB]	18%	18% [Clarification to be issued]
6.	Ayurvedic, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy medicines, other than those bearing a brand name	12%	5%
7.	Poster Colour	28%	18%
8.	Modelling paste for children amusement	28%	18%
9.	Plastic waste, parings or scrap	18%	5%
10.	Rubber  waste, parings or scrap	18%	5%
11.	Hard Rubber waste or scrap	28%	5%
12.	Paper waste or scrap	12%	5%
13.	Duty credit scrips	5%	Nil
14.	Sewing thread of manmade filaments, whether or not put up for retail sale	18%	12%
15.	All synthetic filament yarn, such as nylon, polyester, acrylic, etc.	18%	12%
16.	All artificial filament yarn, such as viscose rayon, Cuprammonium,	18%	12%
17.	Sewing thread of manmade staple fibres	18%	12%
18.	Yarn of manmade staple fibres	18%	12%
19.	Real Zari	12%	5%
20.	All goods falling under heading 6802 [other than those of marble and granite or those which attract 12% GST]	28%	18%
21.	Cullet or other waste or scrap of Glass	18%	5%
22.	Fittings for loose-leaf binders or files, letter clips, letter corners, paper clips, indexing tags and similar office articles, of base metal; staples in strips (for example, for offices, upholstery, packaging), of base metal	28%	18%
23.	Plain Shaft Bearing 8483	28%	18%
24.	Parts suitable for use solely or principally with fixed Speed Diesel Engines of power not exceeding 15HP	28%	18%
25.	Parts suitable for use solely or principally with power driven pumps primarily designed for handling water, namely, centrifugal pumps (horizontal and vertical), deep tube-well turbine pumps, submersible pumps, axial flow and mixed flow vertical pumps	28%	18%
26.	E-Waste	28%/18%	5%
27.	Biomass briquettes	18%	5%

No PAN card to buy jewellery over Rs 50,000

The government also scrapped GST on gems and jewellery stating that PAN card will no longer be mandatory on the purchase of jewellery for over Rs 50,000. Offering further respite to jewellers, the meeting further concluded that any entity dealing in gems, jewellery and other high-value goods that has a turnover of Rs 2 crore or more in a financial year will not be covered under PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002).

E-wallet facility for exporters

Exporters will get refunds for the tax paid by them on exports during July and August by October 18. For the remainder of the fiscal, they will operate under an exempted category paying a nominal 0.1 per cent GST. From April 1 next year, the government would also launch an e-wallet facility for the exporters to provide liquidity, Jaitley announced