INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her reply to discussion on the Finance Bill had said 75 per cent of the GST collected goes to states
and opposition members should ask their state finance ministers to bring the proposal at the GST Council (Representational Picture)4 min
read Last Updated : Sep 08 2024 | 10:29 AM IST
The GST Council on Monday is expected to deliberate on a host of issues, including
taxation of insurance premium, GoM's suggestions on rate rationalisation, and a status report on online gaming, sources said.
Sources said
the fitment committee, comprising Centre and state tax officials, will present a report on GST levied on life, health and reinsurance
premiums and the revenue implications.
The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state ministers,
will decide on whether to reduce the tax burden on health insurance from the current 18 per cent or exempt certain categories of
insurance premium.
In 2023-24, the Centre and states collected Rs 8,262.94 crore through GST on health insurance premium, while Rs
1,484.36 crore was collected on account of GST on health reinsurance premium.
The issue of taxation on insurance premium figured in
Parliament discussions with opposition members demanding that health and life insurance premiums be exempt from GST
Even Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari wrote to Sitharaman on the issue.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her reply to discussion on
the Finance Bill had said 75 per cent of the GST collected goes to states and opposition members should ask their state finance ministers to
bring the proposal at the GST Council.
West Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya had raised the issue in the meeting of the
Group of Ministers (GoM) on rate rationalisation last month and the matter was referred to the fitment committee for further data
analysis.
The GoM had opined against any tinkering of four-tier GST slab of 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent for the time being
The panel, however, had asked the fitment committee to look into any scope for rationalisation of rates of goods and services.
With regard
to online gaming, Centre and state tax officers will present a "status report" before the GST Council
The report would include GST revenue collection from the online gaming sector before and after October 1, 2023.
From October 1, 2023,
entry-level bets placed on online gaming platforms and casinos were subject to 28 per cent GST
Prior to that, many online gaming companies were not paying 28 per cent GST, arguing that there were differential tax rates for games of
skill and games of chance.
The GST Council in its meeting in August 2023 had clarified that online gaming platforms were required to pay
28 per cent tax and subsequently Central GST law was amended to make the taxation provision clear.
Offshore gaming platforms were also
mandated to register with GST authorities and pay taxes, failing which the government would block those sites.
The council had then
decided that the taxation on online gaming sector would be reviewed after six months of its implementation.
Sources said the Council would
deliberate on the status of taxation on the sector and any change in tax rates is unlikely.
Besides, the Council is likely to be apprised
about the ongoing drive against fake registration, the success of the drive and action taken against such entities
The total amount of suspected GST evasion would also be presented before the Council.
The drive, from August 16, 2024, to October 15,
2024, is aimed at detecting suspicious/fake GSTINs and to conduct requisite verification and further remedial action to weed out these fake
billers.
In the first drive between May 16, 2023 to July 15, 2023, against fake registration, 21,791 entities (11,392 pertaining to state
tax jurisdiction and 10,399 pertaining to CBIC jurisdiction) having GST registration were discovered to be non-existent.
An amount of Rs
24,010 crore (state - Rs 8,805 crore + Centre - Rs 15,205 crore) of suspected tax evasion was detected during the special drive.
Also, the
Council would approve notifications, including that of the amnesty scheme, announced in the last council meeting
The various amendments to GST law decided by the council in its previous meeting on June 22 were passed by Parliament last month vide
Finance Act, 2024.
The council in June meeting took a host of taxpayer-friendly measures, including waiver of interest and penalty for
demand notices issued in the first three years of GST -- 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 -- if the full tax demanded is paid by March 31,
2025.
To reduce litigation, a monetary limit for tax officers, to file appeals before the GST Appellate Tribunal, the High Court and the
Supreme Court was fixed at Rs 20 lakh, Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore, respectively, by the Council.
It also recommended a reduction of the
quantum of pre-deposit required to be paid by taxpayers for filing of appeals under goods and services tax (GST).(Only the headline and
picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated
feed.)First Published: Sep 08 2024 | 10:29 AMIST
