GST Council's 47th Meeting To Be Held On June 28, 29 In Srinagar, Says Nirmala Sitharaman

The GST Council comprises Union finance minister and finance ministers from the states are likely to discuss the Group of Ministers interim report on rate rationalisation among other things

Ministry of Finance on Thursday said that the 47th meeting of Goods and Services (GST) Council will be held on June 28-29, 2022 in Srinagar.

The tweeter handle of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman shared the information on Thursday.

The GST Council comprises Union finance minister and finance ministers from the states are likely to discuss the Group of Ministers (GoM) interim report on rate rationalisation among other things. Besides, the GST implementation will also be completing five years on July 1, 2022.

According to news reports, compensation issue will likely be taken up in the meeting as many non-BJP states are pressing for the extension of the GST compensation mechanism for beyond five years ending in June 2022.

Several states are pressuring the Centre to extend a programme to continue compensation for losses from a GST or risk a stalemate in attempts to further simplify the structure. It poses the biggest challenge yet to the country’s most significant tax reform in decades.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was known that the panel of ministers on the GST rate rationalisation is scheduled to meet on June 17 to discuss possible tweaking in tax rates. The GoM is likely to debate possible changes in the tax slab, they said, adding that the final report of the panel would take some more time.

According to the PTI, the finance ministry sources had earlier said that with inflation at a record high, there is hardly any scope for rationalisation of the GST rates on goods and services at present. 

The Council had last year set up a 7-member panel of state ministers, headed by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, to suggest ways to augment revenue by rationalising tax rates. The GoM had last met in November 2021.

The GoM has been mandated to review items under an inverted duty structure to help minimise refund payout and review the GST exempt list to expand the tax base and eliminate the breaking of the input tax credit (ITC) chain. 

Under the present GST regime, a four-rate structure exempts or imposes a low rate of tax of 5 per cent on essential items and levies a top rate of 28 per cent on luxury and demerit goods. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent. Besides, a cess is imposed on the highest slab of 28 per cent on luxury, demerit, and sin goods.