Budget 2018-19

  The council meet is expected to deliberate the exemption and concession on   Covid-19   related items The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is likely to consider the taxation of Covid-19 relief essentials in its next meeting scheduled for June 12. The meeting is expected to deliberate the exemption and concession on Covid-related items, following the recommendation submitted by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Tuesday. The GoM recommendation is yet to be made public, but it is learnt that the issue of taxing the vaccine has been sent back to the Council. However, it suggested temporarily reducing the  GST rate  to 5 per cent on commercial imports and domestic supply of Coronavirus (Covid-19) medicines and material, including medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, pulse oximeters and testing kits. The GoM headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has not made any concrete recommendations on vaccine rates, but the demand of some states to lower it may be...

  The government said that the GST revenues were above Rs 1 trillion for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic v At nearly Rs 1.24 trillion, the goods and services tax (GST) revenue collections in March 2021 were the highest since the tax system’s introduction in July 2017, government said on Thursday. Also, the collections were up 27 per cent when compared with the year-ago period. The government said that the GST revenues were above Rs 1 trillion for the last six months and a steep increasing trend over this period are clear indicators of rapid economic recovery post pandemic. “Closer monitoring against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, Income-tax and Customs IT systems and effective tax administration have also contributed to the steady increase in tax revenue over last few months,” it said. Of the total revenue collected, CGST is Rs 22,973 cr...

The Centre had on October 23 transferred Rs 6,000 crore to 16 states and 2 UTs of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir The Finance Ministry on Monday said it will transfer Rs 6,000 crore as the second tranche of GST compensation shortfall to 16 states and 3 Union Territories — including Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Puducherry and Delhi. The Centre had on October 23 transferred Rs 6,000 crore to 16 states and 2 UTs of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. In the second tranche of transfer, Union Territory of Puducherry has been included. “The Ministry of Finance, Government of India, under its ‘Special Window to States for meeting the GST Compensation Cess shortfall,’ will be releasing an amount of Rs 6,000 crore as second tranche to 16 States and 3 Union Territoriestoday,” the ministry said in a statement. This borrowing was done at an interest of 4.42 per cent, which is lower than the cost of borrowings for the states and UTs, thus benefitting them, it said. “Ministry of Finance has facilitated loans ofR...

  About two thirds of states opt for RBI-window of Rs 1.10 trillion, rest still want the Centre to borrow instead The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council meeting on compensation for the states remained inconclusive on Monday, with 20-21 states opting for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) window of Rs 1.10 trillion (earlier it was Rs 97,000 crore) and around 10 states insisting the Centre borrow and disburse the money. The next meeting is now scheduled for October 12. “The question was 20-21 states deciding to opt for the first option (the RBI window) and others wanting the Centre to borrow. Lots of discussion happened on that … Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi suggested that 3-4-5 days be given to the states to discuss the issue. I gave eight days and the next meeting will happen on October 12,” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after the meeting. She said no state, irrespective of its choice, would be denied compensation. In her answer to a question, she said sh...