NEW DELHI:Chaired by Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will meet on Saturday for the 28th time to discuss some crucial changes in the new indirect tax regime, including simplified tax return, lowering tax slabs on about 30 odd items and to consider cess on sugar.
The most-awaited decision is on the single tax return filing system. The GST Council is likely to come up with more details on this regard, which will give relief to thousands of taxpayers under the new GST regime. The government is likely to implement it by the end of this year.Also in the pipeline is reduction of GST on 30 odd items including sanitary napkins, handlooms and handicrafts, among others.
This will be the first time when Piyush Goyal will chair the meeting of GST Council after taking charge as Fiance Minister in the absence of Arun Jaitley.There are also reports that the GST Council may consider setting up a National Appellate Tribunal in Delhi with three regional branches, so that there is no contradiction and dispute in the various pleas filed with it.
A decision is likely to be arrived at with regard to sugar cess, which remains undecided till date. So far, the Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, is not in favour of imposing the cess, as they fear it would be against the principle of the GST and detrimental to some states.
In this matter, opinion of Attorney General KK Venugopal has also been sought.
“The change in the form, manner of returns submission and admission of ITC is much awaited by businesses. This will surely impact the buyer-seller contractual relationships, said Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, ClearTax.
“There seems to be no intention of introducing cess and digi-linked incentives (if any) on the tax rates, so as to encourage ease of reporting among taxpayers and to continue with a simple GST rate structure,” Gupta added.
Cess on sugar or not?