49th meeting of GST Council

February 18, 2023

The GST Council makes recommendations to the Union Government and the State Government based on the issues related to GST. There are 33 members of the council. Of these 31 are from states and UT and 2 are from the centre. The 49^th meeting of the council was recently chaired by Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitaraman. Outstanding GST cess dues to the states were cleared.

Key Highlights of the 49^th GST Council Meet

GST on liquid jaggery, pencil sharpeners, and tracking devices was reduced
A report of the GST Appellate Tribunal was adopted; certain modifications were introduced
Capacity-based taxation introduced in certain sectors

To Plug the leakages in GST collections

There are leakages in the revenue collection from certain products like tobacco, Gutkha, Pan Masala, etc. The following recommendations were made for these products

The capacity-based levy will not be prescribed for these products
Compliance measures to plug evasions

Other changes introduced

GST on rab reduced from 18% to 5%
GST on pencil sharpener reduced from 18% to 12%
Council recommended Amnesty Scheme
Late Fees for returns rationalized

Compensation Pending

GST compensation pending as of June 2022 was the highest for Maharashtra, 2102 crores; followed by Karnataka 1934 crores, followed by Delhi, Rs 1212 crores.