The GST Council chaired by Indian finance minister Arun Jaitley, at its
23rd meeting, has recommended major relief in GST rates on certain goods and
services, spread across many sectors and across commodities. The Council has
also recommended changes in the Composition Scheme, including a uniform rate of
tax @ 1 per cent for manufacturers and traders.
The
Council has recommended that the list of 28 per cent GST rated goods be pruned
substantially, from 224 tariff headings (about 18.5 per cent of total tariff
headings at 4-digit) to only 50 tariff headings including 4 headings which have
been partially reduced to 18 per cent (about 4 per cent of total tariff
headings at 4-digit).Goods on which the Council has recommended reduction in
GST rate from 28 per cent to 18 per cent include articles of apparel and clothing
accessories of leather, guts, furskin, artificial fur and other articles such
as saddlery and harness for any animal.
The GST
rate on hand bags and shopping bags of jute and cotton, hats (knitted or crocheted),
and specified parts of sewing machine has been reduced to 12 per cent from
the earlier 18 per cent.Likewise, the GST rate has been lowered from 12 per
cent to 5 per cent on narrow woven fabric including cotton newar (with no
refund of unutilised input tax credit); finished leather, chamois and
composition leather; coir cordage and ropes, jute twine, coir products; fishing
net and fishing hooks; and worn clothing.
These
recommendations would become effective from 00hrs on November 15, 2017.Among
the changes recommended in the Composition Scheme is a uniform tax rate of 1
per cent for manufacturers and traders (for traders, turnover will be counted
only for supply of taxable goods). The Council also recommended increase
in annual turnover eligibility under this scheme to Rs 2 crore from the
present limit of Rs 1 crore under the law. However, this will
be implemented only after the necessary amendment of the CGST Act and SGST Acts.
Source: DNA India, India Tuesday, 14 November 2017