Why in news?

The 28th GST Council meeting was held recently.

 What are the highlights?

• GST council has cleared 46 amendments which will be passed in Parliament.
• Rates - The Council has cut tax rates on several general-use items such as TV, washing machine and refrigerators.
• Rates for such 17 white goods were cut by 10% from 28 to 18%.
• In all, the Tax Council has announced a reduction in the tax rates for over 85 goods.
• The Council has also put under the exempted category, sanitary napkins, taxed at 12% earlier.
• The tax rate on environment-friendly fuel cell vehicles has been reduced from 28% to 12%.
• Also, the compensation cess levied on them has been dropped.
• GST rates for all leather items were reduced to 18% from 28%.
• GST on imported urea was reduced to 5%.
• Several other products have been placed in lower tax slabs.
• This particularly includes those from employment-intensive sectors such as carpets and handicrafts.

• Returns - Simpler return filing process was approved in the meet.
• It will now be quarterly returns for business turnover up to Rs 5 crore instead of monthly filings.
• Nearly 93% traders and small business will get benefited from this.
• Exemption limit for traders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, HP, Himalaya, and Sikkim was increased from Rs 10 lakh to 20 lakh.
• Procedure - There will be a standard operating procedure for imposing less severe penalties for small errors in filling e-way bills.
• This should provide relief to truckers.
• Also, RFID on vehicles will soon be linked with the GST Network.
• The transport ministry has to put this system in place in the next 6 months.
• Another significant change was deferment of the reverse charge mechanism till September 2019.

What are the possible outcomes?

• The sectors that saw tax rate cut have a big share of unorganised players.
• Thus the move should help them come under tax net.
• The rate cut on products of mass use could be a stimulus to drive consumption.
• Simplified paperwork for small and medium enterprises could help improve compliance.
• The rate reductions is estimated to cost the government exchequer nearly Rs 7,000 crore.
• But it is too early to worry about the impact on macro fiscal numbers.
• If implemented well, the revenue loss could be offset by higher consumption.
• This may even lead to more investments over the course of time.

What are the concerns?

• The new rates are to enter into force with less than a week's time.
• So there is less time for companies to rework pricing strategies and replace existing market inventory.
• But failing to meet this would make them face anti-profiteering action.
• Besides, Council members, especially states representatives, have for the first time questioned its functioning.
• They alleged that not all of the changes and rate cuts were placed on the agenda.
• Tax cuts on several items were taken up for the first time and were included in the agenda at the last minute.
• Given this, any distrust between Centre and States would make further rationalisation difficult.
• There is thus a need for close coordination between the Centre and the states.
• The Central government has to come up with a clearly laid-out road map based on an acceptable rationale.

Source: Economic Times, The Hindu, Business Standard