47th GST Council Meeting: Decisions on Easing Compliance, Rate Revisions, Exemption Withdrawals

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the media after completion of two days 47th Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting held at Chandigarh. The FM said that the reports of four Group of Ministers (GoM) were on the core agenda of the 47th Council meeting and discussed in detail at the meeting.

The first GoM has submitted an interim report on rate rationalization, exemptions, and correction of inversion nature. The second GoM is related to betting, gambling, horse racing, online gaming, and lottery. The third GoM was formed for IT-related matters, and the fourth GoM was formed for deciding on the movement of precious items such as gold, etc.

The Council considered the four GoM reports while making decisions, and a few of the decisions are:

• GSTR-9 and GSTR-9A exemptions continued for FY 2021-22 to those with threshold turnover below Rs.2 crore.
• Late fee waiver for delayed filing of GSTR-4 for FY 2021-22 extended up to 28th July 2022.
• CMP-08 deadline for Apr-Jun’22 extended up to 31st July 2022.
• Hotel accommodation priced up to Rs.1,000 per day attracts 12% GST.
• Room rent (other than ICU) exceeding Rs.5,000 per day per patient shall be taxed at 5% (without ITC).
• GST rate increased to 18% on printing ink, knives, pencil sharpeners, blades, power-driven pumps, machines for cleaning/sorting/grading agriculture produce, LED Lamps, lights, fixtures, drawing & marking out instruments, etc.
• GST rate increased to 12% for solar water heater & system, few types of leathers, etc.
• GST exemption was withdrawn on cheques, maps & hydrographic or similar charts.
• Electric vehicles, whether or not fitted with a battery pack, are eligible for the concessional GST rate of 5%.
• Intrastate e-commerce suppliers are not required to get mandatory registration when their turnover is below the threshold limit, and they are not making any supplies in other states.
• Composition taxpayers would be allowed to make intra-state supply through e-commerce operators subject to certain conditions w.e.f 01.01.2023.
• Council decided to exclude the two-year COVID period (01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022) while calculating the time limit for filing refund applications.
• GST Network (GSTN) will add UPI and IMPS modes for making GST payments.
• Department shall place the proposal of comprehensive changes in GSTR-3B in the public domain for seeking suggestions.

At the end of the press meet, the FM announced that the 48th Council meeting is expected to be held in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, during the first week of August 2022. The agenda would include setting up GST Appellate Tribunals and fixing the GST rate on casinos, online gaming, etc., based on the GoM’s report.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at dvsr.anjaneyulu@clear.in