53rd GST Council Meeting: GST Exemption on Railway Services and Hostels; Milk Cans will tax @12%
The GST Council in its 53rd meeting held on June 22, 2024 took several steps to reinforce the structure of the indirect tax system and ease the burden of the common man by reducing or abolishing the tax rates on commodities and services.
Some of the services rendered by the railways, such as platform tickets, waiting and cloakroom facilities, battery-operated car services, and intra-railway transactions, has been now exempted from GST.
In a major relief to students, the Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has decided to exempt services of hostel and accommodation outside educational institutions up to Rs. 20,000 per person per month. GST exemption was already given to hostels within educational institutions.
It is further provided that the GST rate is to be a standard, i.e. 12% on every milk can.
The council has also suggested the levying of a 12% standard rate of GST on all carton boxes and cases. “This will be particularly useful for the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir”, Sitharaman said after the GST Council meeting.
In an effort to prevent fraudulent availment of input tax credit (ITC), the GST council has recommended that the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication of the applicants should be rolled out in a phased manner across the country.
It will further enhance the registration process in GST and aid in preventing bogus ITC claims via fake invoices.
It was the first GST council after relation of Modi Government. Of late, this was the 53rd Council meeting of the GST Cabinet, comprised of representatives from all the states of the country.
Noted that the council had forwarded a recommendation to remove the current GST of 5% on fertilizers to GoM on rate rationalization. The Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar has been given the chairmanship of the GoM of Rate Rationalisation in this GST Council Meeting.
On the issue of bringing petrol and diesel under the GST, Finance Minister Sitharaman said, “The decision is dependent on the states, they have to come together to talk and take petrol and diesel into GST. The central government’s intention is very clear and we want petrol and diesel to be part of GST.”
To assist the actual small taxpayers, the council proposed the extension of the due date for submitting the GSTR-4 returns from 30th April to 30th June. This will apply for the financial year 2024-25 onwards.
The council decided to waive the penalties and interest for demand notices issued under section 73 of the GST Act which does not include fraud, suppression or misstatements.
To minimize government litigation, the council suggested the following limits of monetary value for filing of appeals by the department:
All the above-discussed changes will come into force when notified by CBIC.
