{"id":32758,"date":"2023-02-19T09:23:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T03:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32758"},"modified":"2025-04-19T15:48:05","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T10:18:05","slug":"gst-council-consensus-to-create-tribunal-new-rate-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/gst-council-consensus-to-create-tribunal-new-rate-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"GST Council: Consensus to create tribunal, new rate cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What Exactly is the Goods and Services Tax (GST)?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the GST Council?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary Regarding Decisions Taken at the 49th GST Council Meeting<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, in its 49th meeting approved the creation of a national tribunal mechanism with state benches for the redressal of disputes, cleared pending compensation dues and announced new taxation rates for some items.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What Exactly is the Goods and Services Tax (GST)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is an<strong> indirect tax<\/strong> (not directly paid by customers to the government), that came into effect from <strong>1 July 2017<\/strong> through the implementation of the<strong> 101st Amendment to the Constitution of India<\/strong> by the Indian government.<\/li>\n<li>It has actually <strong>replaced <\/strong>various indirect taxes such as &#8211; service taxes, VAT, excise and others in the country.<\/li>\n<li>It is <strong>levied on the manufacturer or seller <\/strong>of goods and the providers of services.<\/li>\n<li>It is divided into five different tax slabs for collection of tax &#8211; <strong>0%, 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Types of GST: <\/strong>State Goods and Services Tax (SGST), Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST, on exports and imports).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the GST Council?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Article 279A<\/strong> of the Indian Constitution gives power to<strong> the President of India<\/strong> to constitute a joint forum of the Centre and States called the GST Council, consisting of the &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>Union Finance Minister &#8211; <strong>Chairperson<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance &#8211; <strong>Member<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Minister in-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government &#8211; <strong>Members<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The GST Council is<strong> an apex committee <\/strong>to modify, reconcile or to make recommendations to the Union and the States on GST, like the goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST, model GST laws, etc.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Decisions in the GST Council are taken <strong>by a majority <\/strong>of not less than three-fourth of weighted votes cast.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Centre <\/strong>has one-third weightage of the total votes cast and <strong>all the states taken together<\/strong> have two-third of weightage of the total votes cast.<\/li>\n<li>All decisions taken by the GST Council have been arrived at through <strong>consensus<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary Regarding Decisions Taken at the 49th GST Council Meeting<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/szoxoq60nGgrbZViU3-TvLZ9kz5Wef2WEHC87t2lUU_nV-LIftMGbC4Zy7-kmgVpuHTrSEh6yGLZLFcFmCER3H9-pPLtBLZz9yGYn488QVrD2G7Mw_coG7cJ0RPwu4j092H86RlLRHr-VGrDu4A5EPo\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: GST Compensation Dues<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Constitution of the GST Appellate Tribunal with state benches:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>In a significant respite for taxpayers, the Tribunal will <strong>resolve the rising number of disputes<\/strong> under the GST regime that are now clogging High Courts and other judicial fora.<\/li>\n<li>This year\u2019s <strong>Finance Bill can incorporate<\/strong> the enabling legislative provisions for the Tribunal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Releasing GST compensation (amounting to \u20b933,506 cr) dues to States:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The entire pending balance of \u20b916,982 crore for June 2022 [the last month of the five-year period since GST\u2019s launch for which such recompense was payable to States] will be cleared.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Six States and UTs<\/strong> are also being paid \u20b916,524 cr as additional compensation based on certificates from their respective Accountant Generals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>This money will come from the exchequer\u2019s own coffers<\/strong> as the GST Compensation Cess Fund does not have an adequate balance, and will be recouped from future cess collections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Approved lower penal charges:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>For delayed filing of annual returns by businesses with a turnover of up to \u20b920 crore a year.<\/li>\n<li><strong>An amnesty scheme <\/strong>for taxpayers unable to file three statutory returns, that entails conditional waivers or reductions in late fees for such filings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rate changes:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The GST rate on Raab, a kind of liquid jaggery typical to sugarcane-growing States like UP, will be reduced <strong>from 18% to nil<\/strong>, if it is sold loose, and 5%, if it is pre-packaged and labelled.<\/li>\n<li>On pencil sharpeners, it is being reduced from <strong>18% to 12%. Tag-tracking devices or data loggers <\/strong>already affixed on containers will no longer attract a separate GST levy of 18%.<\/li>\n<li>The Council also decided <strong>to extend the GST exemption <\/strong>to educational institutions and central and state educational boards from conducting entrance examinations through any authority, including National Testing Agency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Plugging tax evasion:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Council has decided to switch the compensation cess levied on pan masala and gutkha commodities from an <strong>ad valorem<\/strong> basis <strong>to a specific tax-based levy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This will boost the <strong>first stage collection of the revenue<\/strong> and mandated that exports only be allowed against letters of undertaking assuring of GST compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) How is the GST Council constituted?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Article 279A of the Indian Constitution gives power to the President of India to constitute a joint forum of the Centre and States called the GST Council, consisting of the Union Finance Minister \u2013 Chairperson; The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance \u2013 Member; etc.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) How a final decision is arrived at in a GST Council meeting?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Decisions in the GST Council are taken by a majority of not less than three-fourth of weighted votes cast.\u00a0 Centre has one-third weightage of the total votes cast and all the states taken together have two-third of weightage of the total votes cast. All decisions taken by the GST Council have been arrived at through consensus.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/business\/economy\/gst-council-reaches-consensus-to-create-tribunal-new-rate-cuts-8453343\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong><u>GST Council reaches consensus to create tribunal, new rate cuts<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/gst-council-reaches-broad-consensus-on-setting-up-gst-appellate-tribunal-likely-to-be-included-in-finance-bill-2023\/article66525069.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong><u>TH<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>VIDEO:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kB8eaA-ZdJA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kB8eaA-ZdJA<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GST Council is apex committee to modify, reconcile or to make recommendations to the Union and the States on GST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}