NEW DELHI: The GST Council, in its 38th meeting on Wednesday, has decided to keep the tax slabs untouched for the time being and has fixed a uniform tax rate of 28 per cent on both state and private lotteries, effective from March 1, 2020.
Currently, lotteries run by state governments attract 12 per cent GST, while those authorised by them and sold outside the state are taxed at 28 per cent.The decision had been pending since last one year. The Central government had formed a Group of Ministers to look into the matter, but despite several meetings they could not reach a consensus. On Wednesday, for the first time since the implementation of GST, there was a voting on the issue, with as many as 21 states voted in favour of 28 per cent GST rates as opposed to seven against it.
Apart from this, the council rationalised tax rates on woven and non-woven bags to 18 per cent and waived the GST payable for industrial and financial infrastructure plots by an entity with 20 per cent or more ownership of the Central or state government. This change will be effective from January 1, 2020.
The council has also relaxed penalty for non-filing of GSTR-1 from July 2017.
“The GST Council has decided to waive late fee for taxpayers who have not filed returns from July 2017 to November 2019, if all the returns are filed by January 10, 2020. This has been done to facilitate filing all past returns, as GSTR-1 is important for invoice matching. In case the taxpayer does not file GSTR-1 by January 10, 2020, the e-way bill will be blocked for them,” said revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey.
The GST council has also extended the annual returns filing date for GSTR-9 and reconciliation form GSTR-9C for FY 2017-18 to January 31, 2020, Pandey said.There was a general apprehension that GST rates will be hiked but sources added that most of the states were against a rate hike.