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The GST Council will have its 49th meeting on Saturday, February 18th, in Delhi. The conference, which will be chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is expected to address the establishment of appellate tribunals and procedures to combat tax evasion in the pan masala and gutkha industries.
To guarantee parity in membership, these tribunals will contain one judicial and one technical member from either the Center or the states.
The Group of Ministers’ long-awaited report on online gaming and the GST appellate tribunal is unlikely to be submitted at the forthcoming meeting.
The Council’s 49th meeting follows the presentation of the union budget earlier this month, which proposed to prolong the 50-year interest-free loan to states for another year to allow for capital investment.
The government wants to see if the GST rate on cement may be reduced from the current 28%. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister, stated earlier this month that a team of officials will investigate the matter. This is unlikely to be discussed during the meeting on Saturday.
The GST Council had its 48th meeting via video conference on December 17, 2022.
The GST Council recently suggested decriminalising three sorts of offences, including tampering with material evidence.
These include impeding or stopping any officials from carrying out their responsibilities, tampering with material evidence on purpose, and failing to provide information.
Another significant decision made at the conference was to increase the threshold limit of the tax amount for starting prosecution on any criminal crime defined under the GST legislation from ₹1 crore to ₹2 crore. This, however, would not apply to offences such as false billing.
Also, the GST rate for pulses, husks, and blades was cut from 5% to 0%.
The tax on ethyl alcohol used to combine ethanol was exempted. It was formerly taxed at 18%.
The Goods and Services Tax was implemented in the nation on July 1, 2017, and states were guaranteed compensation for any revenue loss resulting from the adoption of GST under the terms of the GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 for a period of five years.
Cess is charged on specific products to provide compensation to states, and the money collected is deposited in the Compensation Fund. With effect from July 1, 2017, compensation to states is paid from the Compensation Fund.
