GST Council reduces tax rates of 66 items
After the GST Council's 16th meeting, it has reduced the rates of 66 items, including agarbattis and insulin, which will now be taxed at 5%. Movie tickets under Rs. 100 have gotten cheaper (18%). Tax on printers has come down from 28% to 18%. Representations were received for 133 items, including sanitary napkins; tax on them remains unchanged.
Composition scheme limit for traders also increased
Among food items, tax on pickles, morabba and mustard sauce will now be taxed at 12% instead of 18%. Cashew nuts will attract zero charges. The limit for traders to avail the composition scheme has also been increased from Rs. 50L turnover to Rs. 75L In the next meet on June 18, the Council will discuss lottery taxes and e-way bill.
Necessary electronic documents to be ready by June end
Meanwhile, government officials said that electronic documents necessary for business under the new GST regime will be ready by June end. The technology aspect is being handled by a company called GST Network. Preparedness of a system for facilitating uploading of invoices is necessary for the launch of GST, since traders will be required to file monthly returns electronically.
Relief for small businesses
However, small business need not worry; for them, the returns have to be filed quarterly, which implies they have to do it sometime in October. They also don't need to attach invoices, an official said. Entities with business-to-business transactions do use an offline tool developed by GSTN for the purpose, "which as the capability to deal with 19,000 invoices".
