The GST Council’s 16th meeting on Sunday has brought down tax rate on 66 items in a fine-tuning exercise.
The Finance Minister after the meeting also raised the exemption limit for the concessional composition scheme from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 75 lakh. Revision of other deserved items including that on hybrid cars are expected in the next meeting
Items for rate cut
Finance Minister Arun Jaitely who chaired meeting revealed the 66 items whose rate has been brought down. These include insulin, cashew nuts, pickles, ketchup, agarbattis, children’s drawing books, tractor components and others etc.
Tax rate on children’s books were brought down from 12% to nil. For cinema tickets priced less than Rs 100, the rate has been brought down from 28% to 18%.
For insulin, cashew nuts and agarbatis the rate has been reduced from 12 per cent to 5 per cent. Tractor components will be taxed at 18% instead of 28%.
Composition Scheme Relief for Small Enterprises
Composition scheme is a tax concession arrangement for small scale enterprises whose turnover is small. Enterprises earning a revenue/turnover below the set turnover are liable to pay a GST rate on turnover. The limit for the composition scheme was Rs 50 lakh and it has been raised to Rs 75 lakh.
Here, a tax payer is required to file summarized returns on a quarterly basis, instead of three monthly returns (as applicable for normal businesses).
Next meeting of the Council is scheduled on June 18th.
