Expectations from 35th GST Council Meeting

The GST Council Meeting will hold it's 35th meeting on June 21. This will be the first meeting of the Council under the newly elected Finance Minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman.

The council is likely to consider following proposal at its 35th  meeting ll.

1.  The Council might extend the tenure of the National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) till November 30. The NAA was set up for a tenure of two years soon after the GST Act was implemented, to address the complaints filed by the customers against companies for not passing on rate cut benefits to them. But as the authority continues to receive complaints from the customers and so many orders still remain pending, the ministry of finance is considering the extension of its tenure.

2. The council in its upcoming meeting might fix  Rs 50 crores turnover threshold for generating an e-invoice on a centralized government portal for business to business transactions. This will not only save the entities falling under such limit from twin activities of filing returns and uploading invoices but will also help the government to curb tax evasion. This system is also expected to nullify any gap between GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B and ensure that Input Tax Credit (ITC) doesn't get misused.

3. The GST Council will also consider the proposal to levy GST on Extra-neutral alcohol (ENA). ENA is used as raw material in manufacturing alcoholic liquor for human consumption. Currently, the States have the power to levy Value Added Tax(VAT) and Central Sales Tax(CST) on ENA, but if it is brought under the ambit of GST, the states may forego their right to collect such taxes on ENA.

4. The council is likely to propose a revision of rates on the items falling under the highest tax slab of 28% under the GST regime. GST on electric vehicles might be slashed from 12% to 5%.

5. Other than the above-mentioned points the council is also likely to consider a proposal to form a combined bench to deal with appeal cases for all north-eastern states as well as one bench to deal with cases in all 6 Union Territories including Chandigarh, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.