AMN / WEB DESK
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, February 18, said the GST Council adopted the report of the Group of Ministers on GST Appellate Tribunal with certain modifications, and the final draft amendments will be circulated in the next 5 to 6 days to State Finance Ministers for their comments.
The GoM on Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunals (GSTATs) was set up in July last year under the chairmanship of Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala. The panel has suggested that the tribunals should consist of two judicial members, and one technical member each from the Centre and States, besides a retired Supreme Court Judge as president.
The GoM report on the establishment of the GST Appellate Tribunal has been accepted with slight modifications in the language that will be shared with States today and following which a final draft of the Tribunal’s setting up will be worked out, Ms. Sitharaman said after chairing the 49th meeting of the GST Council.
The Goods and Services Tax, GST Council has also decided to clear the entire due on the pending balance of the GST compensation to the States. Addressing the media after chairing the 49th meeting of the GST Council in New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the pending balance of the GST compensation to the tune of 16 thousand 982 crore rupees for June 2022 will be cleared.
She added that although this amount is not really available in the compensation fund as of today, so, the Centre has decided to release this amount from its own resources and the same amount will be recouped from the future compensation cess collection. Ms Sitharaman also said that with this release, the Centre would clear the entire provisionally admissible compensation cess dues for five years as envisaged in the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017.
The Finance Minister also announced to lower the GST rates on Raab or liquid jaggery from 18 per cent to nil if it is loose and in case it is pre-packaged and labelled then it will attract a GST of five per cent. She said, the GST rate on Pencil Sharpener has been reduced to 12 per cent from the existing 18 per cent while on tags tracking devices or data loggers which are affixed on durable containers, it has been reduced from 18 per cent to nil, subject to some conditions
The Finance Minister also announced GST exemptions on coal rejects when they are supplied to and by a coal washery and GST exemptions for services by the National Testing Agency for conducting entrance examinations for admission to educational institutions. She also said that Council has decided to rationalise the late fee on delayed filing of annual returns or GSTR9 for 2022-23 onwards for small taxpayers with an annual turnover of up to 20 crore rupees. She said, the GST Council decided to tax services supplied by courts and tribunals under the reverse charge mechanism.
She said that the recommendations of the Group of Ministers, GoM on capacity based taxation and special compensation scheme in certain action sectors mostly related to Paan Masala and Gutkha have been taken on board in today’s GST Council meeting.