Finance Minister chairs GST Council Meeting

On December 18, 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman chaired the GST Council Meeting in New Delhi. The meeting was held to address the backdrop of falling collections for the current fiscal.

Highlights

For the first time, the council has used voting process and has voted to tax lotteries under the highest slab of 28%. The Council did not tamper with the rates. It also rationalized the rates of woven and non-woven bags to 18%. In the last meeting it was fixed at 12%. It has also waived late fee for those who have filed their taxes after July1 ,2017. The state of Uttar Pradesh and UT of J&K were the highest GST collectors so far in the year.

The changes are to be effective from January 1, 2020.

1 Lakh Crore set as monthly target

The Finance Ministry has set a monthly target of Rs 1.1 lakh crore collection of GST for the remaining four months. The ministry has planned field visits and drives to increase tax collection. At the beginning of the financial year GoI had set a target of Rs 13.35 lakh crore of direct tax collection. So far, it has reached 45% of the set target.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2019