The Union Government has announced the release of the entire pending GST compensation of Rs 16,982 crore for June 2022 to states. The Centre will release the amount from its own resources and it will be recouped from future compensation cess collections, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while briefing the media after the 49th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council here on Saturday.
Headed by Finance Minister, the GST Council comprises Finance Ministers of states and UTs (with a legislature). Of the three GoM reports that were taken up, only one, headed by Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, was largely adopted while differences persisted on the setting up of a GST appellate tribunal as the states wanted more say in the matter. The third GoM report on online gaming could not be taken up as its chief and Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma is busy with the elections.
Sitharaman also said Rs 16,524 crore to six states which had submitted the Accountant General’s (AG) certificate would also be released. Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are among the six states which have submitted the AG certificate.
The GST Council also reduced the tax on several items, including “rab” (liquid jaggery) and pencil sharpeners. It also rationalised the late fee for delayed filing of annual returns. It also decided to tax services provided by courts and tribunals under the reverse charge mechanism. However, no decision could be arrived at by the fitment committee on SUVs and MUVs.
The GST rate on liquid jaggery, which is 18 per cent, will be nil if sold loose or will be reduced to 5 per cent if pre-packaged and labelled. For pencil sharpeners, the duty has been reduced to 12 per cent from the current 18 per cent. It recommended rationalising the late fee for delayed filing of annual returns in Form GSTR-9 for 2022-23 onwards for registered persons having an aggregate turnover in a financial year up to Rs 20 crore.
For registered persons having an aggregate turnover of up to Rs 5 crore in a fiscal, the late fee will be Rs 50 per day, subject to a maximum of 0.04 per cent of the turnover. In case of more than Rs 5 crore and up to Rs 20 crore, the fine will be Rs 100 per day, subject to 0.04 per cent of the turnover.At present, a late fee of Rs 200 per day, subject to a maximum of 0.5 per cent of the turnover, is payable in case of delayed filing of annual returns. In order to provide relief to a large number of taxpayers, the council recommended amnesty schemes in respect of pending returns in Form GSTR-4, Form GSTR-9 and Form GSTR-10 by way of conditional waiver/reduction of late fee.
