54th GST Council Meeting To Take Place On 9 Sept In New Delhi

The 54th Meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council or GST Council, will be held on 9th September 2024 in New Delhi, the GST Council said in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday. On 22 June, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the next meeting of the GST Council will take place in mid to late August.

The aim of this meeting will be to discuss the pending issues of the last meeting. The council is expected to discuss rate rationalisation and compliance, among others. The GST Council, consisting of the Union Finance Minister and representatives from all States and Union Territories, was established to make decisions on various aspects of GST, including tax rates, exemptions, and administrative procedures. It played a crucial role in shaping the GST framework in India.

The last meeting of the GST Council was held on 22 June 2024 this year. During the meeting, the council recommended relaxation to taxation, Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims and demand notices. The GST Council proposes exemptions for specific services offered by Indian Railways to the general public, as well as for intra-railway transactions.

During the 53rd meeting of the council, it proposed an exemption for specific services offered by Indian Railways to the general public, as well as for intra-railway transactions. The sale of platform tickets and services such as retiring rooms, waiting rooms, cloakroom facilities, and battery-operated car services are now exempt from GST. The 53rd council meeting was marked by several key decisions aimed at easing the compliance burden and providing relief to taxpayers.

"Today's GST Council meeting has taken a lot of decisions on trade facilitation, easing compliance burden and relief to taxpayers in terms of compliance easing out," the Finance Minister had said.

The GST Council recommended waiving interest penalties on demand notices issued under Section 73 of the GST Act for fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20. The Council, in its 22 June meeting, approved an extension for availing input tax credit (ITC) on any invoice or debit note.

To curb government litigation, the Council has recommended setting monetary thresholds for filing appeals by departments: Rs 20 lakh for the GST appellate tribunal, Rs 1 crore for high courts, and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court.

In a move to assist small taxpayers, the Council, in its last meeting, extended the deadline for furnishing returns from 30 April to 30 June for the fiscal year 2024-25 and subsequent years.

The Council, in its last meeting, recommended the phased rollout of biometric-based Aadhaar authentication for GST registration applicants across India. The Council recommended a uniform GST rate of 12 per cent on all milk cans, regardless of their material (steel, iron, or aluminium), to eliminate disputes.

The Finance Minister, during the last GST meeting, reiterated the central government's intent to bring petrol and diesel under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework. She highlighted that the groundwork for this inclusion was laid during the initial implementation of GST and emphasized that the decision now lies with the state governments. The central government has long maintained that incorporating petrol and diesel into GST would streamline tax rates and potentially reduce prices for consumers. (ANI)