THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a move that would benefit Kerala, the GST Council has agreed to its demand to record the name of the state that has the rightful claim to the share of tax for sales through e-commerce platforms.
Finance Minister K N Balagopal said Kerala, at the GST Council meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, demanded that the state share in GST should be increased from 50% to 60%.
In a release on Sunday, the finance minister said while selling products through e-commerce sites, GSTR -8 return has to be filed. The GST levied on the e-commerce operator should be mentioned in the return. The Council decided that information of the state which should get its share from tax levied should also be included in the return.
Those from Kerala, who buy products online from Amazon and Flipkart, are being levied IGST. However, the state has not been getting its share of the tax as the companies were not mentioning the name of destination state in the GSTR -8 return. “We managed to convince the GST Council that if the e-commerce operators make slight corrections, the tax issue could be resolved,” said Balagopal.
Sought steps to avoid fleecing taxpayers: Min
“Over the last few months, the state government had initiated several studies which we presented before the meeting,” Balagopal said. The GST Council also decided to provide a further reprieve to traders who had not filed their returns on the input tax credit issue on time. Those traders who received notices until 2021 on return input credit will get one more chance to do so.
Balagopal said he urged the GST Council to take steps to avoid fleecing the taxpayers. It has also been decided to undertake more scrutiny after the presentation of the union budget.