GST Council to meet in Lucknow on Friday
(Sourced from PTI)
The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will meet on Friday, which among other things may review the tax rate of over four-dozen items and extend till December 31, tax concessions on 11 COVID-19 drugs. Also, taxing petrol and diesel under the single national GST tax would be taken up by the Council at its meeting in Lucknow on September 17.
A proposal to treat food delivery apps like Zomato and Swiggy as restaurants and levy a five percent GST (Goods and Services Tax) on supplies made by them would be taken up by the Council in the meeting. "Finance Minister Smt @nsitharaman will chair the 45th GST Council meeting at 11 am in Lucknow tomorrow," the Finance Ministry tweeted.
The Council, comprising central and state finance ministers, will deliberate on the proposal of extending the existing concessional tax rate structure on Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab, Remdesivir, and anti-coagulants like Heparin, till December 31, 2021, from the present September 30. The tax rate on Amphotericin B, Tocilizumab was cut to "Nil," while Remdesivir and Heparin were reduced to five percent in June 2021.
The Council on Friday may also discuss the proposal of reducing GST from 12 percent to five percent on seven more drugs till December 31, 2021. These are Itolizumab, Posaconazole, Infliximab, Bamlanivimab & Etesevimab, Casirivimab & Imdevimab, 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose, and Favipiravir.
To curb tax evasion, the proposal to make the food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato liable to pay the GST on restaurant services supplied through them would also be considered by the Council. Once approved by the GST Council, food delivery apps will have to collect and deposit GST with the government, in place of restaurants, for deliveries made by them.
In light of the Kerala High Court order, the Council will also discuss taxing petrol and diesel under the GST, a move that may require huge compromises by both central and state governments on the revenues they collect from taxing these products. In June, the Kerala High Court had asked the GST Council to decide on bringing petrol and diesel within the GST ambit.
The Council will also discuss the interim report of a state-ministerial panel on capacity-based taxation on pan masala and composition scheme for brick kilns and stone crushers. The Panel has recommended a Special Composition Scheme in the Brick Kiln sector with effect from April 1, 2022, prescribing a GST rate of six percent, without ITC, similar to the rate in the services sector.
