New Delhi [India], February 18 (ANI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the Centre decided to clear the entire pending balance GST compensation of Rs 16,982 crore for June 2022.
During a conference after the 49th GST Council meeting on Saturday, the Finance Minister said there is no amount in the GST compensation fund and the Centre decided to release this amount from its own resources and it will be recouped from the future compensation cess collection.
With this release, the Finance Minister said the Centre would clear the entire provisionally admissible compensation due for five years as envisaged in the GST (Compensation to States) Act 2017.
In addition, the Centre would also clear the admissible final GST compensation to those states which have provided the revenue figures as certified by the audit accountant general of the states amounting to Rs 16,524 crore.
The Finance Minister said GST Council has adopted the report of Group of Ministers (GoM) on GST Appellate Tribunal with certain modifications.
With a view to plug the leakages and improve the revenue collection from the commodities like pan masala, gutkha, chewing tobacco, the Council approved the recommendations of the GoM.
During the conference, the Finance Minister also mentioned the changes in GST rates of goods and services.
“We are reducing GST rate on the item — Rab, the kind of liquid jaggery — between nil to 5 per cent. If it’s sold loose, it will be nil and if it’s prepackaged and labelled, it will be 5 per cent. The GST rates on pencil sharpeners will come to down to 12 per cent from 18 per cent,” she said.
The minister said GST rate has also been reduced on tag-tracking devices or data loggers which are fixed on durables containers from 18 per cent to nil, subject to some conditions.”
“It has been decided to extend the exemption available to educational institutions and Central and State educational boards for conduct of entrance examination to any authority, board or a body set up by the central government or state government including National Testing Agency (NTA) for conduct of entrance examination for admission to educational institutions,” she said.
“It has been decided to extend the dispensation available to the Centre, state governments, Parliament and State Legislatures with regard to payment of GST under reverse charge mechanism (RCM) to the Courts and Tribunals also in respect of taxable services supplied by them such as renting of premises to telecommunication companies for installation of towers, renting of chamber to lawyers etc,” she added.
According to the Finance Minister, the Council has also recommended to provide an amnesty scheme for conditional deemed withdrawal of assessment orders in past cases where the concerned return could not be filed within 30 days of the assessment order but has been filed along with due interest and late fee up to a specified date, irrespective of whether appeal has been filed or not against the assessment order, or whether the said appeal has been decided or not.
Speaking on the rationalisation of late fee for annual returns, the finance minister said currently, a late fee of Rs 200 per day (Rs 100 CGST and Rs 100 SGST), subject to a maximum of 0.5 per cent of the turnover in the State or Union Territory (0.25 per cent CGST + 0.25 per cent SGST), is payable in case of delayed filing of annual return in FORM GSTR-9.
“The Council recommended to rationalise this late fee for delayed filing of annual return in FORM GSTR-9 for FY 2022-23 onwards, for registered persons having aggregate turnover in a financial year up to Rs 20 crore,” the minister said.
Form GSTR-9 is an annual return to be filed once for each financial year, by the registered taxpayers who are regular taxpayers, including SEZ units and SEZ developers. The taxpayers are required to furnish details such as purchases, sales, input tax credit or refund claimed or demand created. (ANI)
