NEW DELHI: The GST Council is likely to meet by third week of December to decide on the inverted duty structure and also rationalisation of rates.
“The GST council is expected to meet by the third week of December. This time it will have rationalisation of rates on many items which were almost pending over almost two years mainly on account of the pandemic,” a senior finance ministry official said.
The official added that the exact date of the meeting will be decided immediately after the report given by the two Group of Ministers constituted during the last GST council meeting over rate rationalisation.
The government has formed a GoM led by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai. The GoM has been tasked to propose rationalisation of tax rates and give the report within two months.
The seven-member group includes West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, Kerala’s finance minister KN Balagopal and GST Council members from Bihar, Rajasthan, Goa, and Uttar Pradesh.
The group would have to suggest immediate changes, as well as come up with a roadmap for short- and medium-term changes to the GST rate structure.
“The GoM on rate rationalisation would review the current rate slab structure of GST, including special rates, and recommend rationalisation measures, including a merger of tax rate slabs required for a simpler rate structure in GST,” the order had said post GST council meeting in Lucknow. While the change of slab was also under consideration, the merger of slab was ruled out that time by the finance minister, at least for the time being.
The GoM is likely to meet next week to deliberate on the rate structure. The council is also working on developing tools to plug in the revenue gap or loopholes between the state and the centre for which it had formed another GoM.
“The GoM on systems reforms shall identify potential sources of evasion and suggest changes in business processes and IT systems to plug revenue leakage; identify possible use of data analysis towards better compliance and revenue augmentation and suggest the use of such data analysis and; identify mechanisms for better coordination between central and state tax administration and tax administration of different states; and suggest timelines for changes recommended,” the order said.
On the table
The government has formed a GoM (group of ministers) led by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai.
The panel has been tasked to propose rationalisation of tax rates and give the report within two months.
The GoM is likely to meet next week to deliberate on the rate structure.
The GST council is also working on developing tools to plug in the revenue gap or loopholes between the state and the Centre.