GST Council meeting: Tax rates changed for goods & services; Here’s what gets cheaper & costlier

GST Council meeting: The 53rd Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting was held on Saturday in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and attended by state finance ministers.

The GST Council took a number of decisions to ease the compliance burden and grievances of taxpayers. She said: “Today, the GST Council meeting has taken a lot of decisions on trade facilitation, easing compliance burden and relief to taxpayers in terms of compliance easing out.”

Here are some recommendations made by the GST Council at the meeting–

Railway services: The services offered by the Indian Railways such as platform ticket sale, retiring room facility, waiting rooms, cloakroom facilities, and battery-operated car services are exempted from GST.

Hostel services: The GST Council exempted services by way of hostel accommodation outside educational institutions to tune ₹20,000 per person per month and an exemption can be availed only if the stay is up to 90 days.

Interest on penalties on tax notice: The GST Council has recommended waiver of interest on penalties on tax demand notice issued under Section 73 of the GST Act for fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20. Taxpayers who pay the full tax amount demanded in the notice by March 31, 2025, will benefit from this waiver.

Input tax credit: The GST Council gave its nod for an extension for availing input tax credit (ITC) on any invoice or debit note.

GST on carton boxes: The GST Council has recommended the reduction of GST on all kinds of carton boxes from 18 per cent to 12 per cent.

GST return: The GST Council extended the deadline for furnishing returns from April 30 to June 30 for the fiscal year 2024-25 and subsequent years.

Solar cookers: A uniform GST rate of 12 per cent recommended for solar cookers -- both single or dual energy source.

Milk cans: The GST Council recommended a uniform GST rate of 12 per cent on all milk cans, regardless of their material (steel, iron, aluminum).

Sprinklers: All types of sprinklers, including fire and water sprinklers, will attract a uniform GST rate of 12 per cent.