1. Introduction
GST was introduced to replace several other indirect taxes implemented by the Central as well as the State Governments. In GST it is the Central as well as the State Governments who are empowered to set and collect taxes on goods and services. Hence, GST working and administered under the dual form namely Central GST (CGST) imposed by the central government and State GST (SGST) imposed by the state government. It administered through GST Council.
The GST council is empowered under the Indian constitution; its goal is to handle all the activities involved in the administration of the GST in India. This entails the determination of tax rates, management and other related issues. It is the principal committee which is authorised to alter, reconcile or make any laws or regulations relating to the GST. It is chaired by a Union Minister of India, this council is accompanied by the finance ministers from all the states in India. The latest one was the fifty-second held on the 7th of Oct, 2023. The main decision-making fields of this council are rates of taxes, exemptions, GST returns’ deadlines, tax legislation and compliance periods. The provision of Section 279-A in the Constitution provided for the formation of the GST Council through an order by the President. This order was provided for in an Order in Council made in 2016.
2. Structure of GST Council
According to Article 279A of the Constitution, the GST Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of Article 279A. The notification for bringing into force Article 279A with effect from 12th September, 2016 was issued on 10th September, 2016. GST Council is the main decision-making body that has been formed to finalize the design of GST. This governing body of GST comprises of Union Finance Minister – Arun Jaitley, who is the Chairman of the council, the Minister of State (Revenue) and the State Finance/ Taxation Ministers. The duty of the Council is to make recommendations to the Union and the States. It has been provided in the Constitution (one hundred and first amendment) Act, 2016 that the GST Council, in its discharge of various functions, shall be guided by the need for a harmonized structure of GST and for the development of a harmonized national market for goods and services. In the GST Council a decision is taken by a three-fourth majority with the Centre having a one-third vote and the states the remaining two-third.
Present Status of Members in GST Council
| Representation of | No. Of members |
| Central Govt | 2 |
| 28 States | 28 |
| 3UTs with Legislature (Delhi, Ponduchery, Jammu and Kashmir) | 3 |
| 6 UTs without Legislature | 0 |
3. Key Features of GST Council
i. Establishment of the GST Council office in New Delhi
ii. Appointment of the Revenue Secretory as the Ex- officio Secretary to the GST council
iii. Inclusion of the CBIC chairperson as permanent invitee(non-voting) to all GST council proceedings
iv. Creation of the post of additional secretary to the GST Council
Inclusion of officers from both Central and State Governments on deputation basis in the GST council.
4. Power of GST council only recommendatory in nature
As per Article 279A (4), the Council will make recommendations to the Union and the States on important issues related to GST, like
a) The goods and services that may be subjected or exempted from GST.
b) Principles that govern Place of Supply.
c) Threshold limits.
d) GST rates including the floor rates with bands, special rates for raising additional resources during natural calamities/disasters or RNR
e) Special provisions for certain States, etc.
f) Transition Provisions
5. GST Council under the Constitution is required to make recommendations on the following:
(a) the taxes, cesses and surcharges which may be subsumed in the goods and services tax;
(b) the goods and services that may be subjected to, or exempted from the goods and services tax;
(c) model GST Laws, principles of levy, apportionment of IGST and the principles that govern the place of supply;
(d) the threshold limit of turnover below which goods and services may be exempted from goods and services tax;
(e) GST rates including floor rates;
(f) any special rates for a specified period, to raise additional resources during any natural calamity or disaster;
(g) special provision with respect to the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand; and
(h) any other matter relating to the GST, as the Council may decide.
6. Duties of the GST Council
Besides governing GST implementation in the country, the GST Council has two major duties to dispose of. These include making recommendations and holding GST Council meetings. Let’s understand these duties in details –
7. GST Council recommendations
According to the provisions laid down under Article 279A (4), the GST Council has the duty to make recommendations about GST to the Union Government as well as the State Governments.
The council would decide which goods and services would be charged to GST and which would be exempted from it. Thereafter, the GST Council has the duty of creating laws and principles about the place of supply, threshold limits, special rates of GST for certain States of India, the applicable GST rates on various goods and services and special rates of GST during a natural calamity or a disaster so that additional resources can be raised for meeting the financial losses suffered, etc.
8. Recent GST Council Meeting:
The 53rd GST Council met under the Chairpersonship of Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi on 22nd June 2024. The meeting was also attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, Chief Ministers of Goa and Meghalaya; Deputy Chief Ministers of Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha; besides Finance Ministers of States & UTs (with legislature) and senior officers of the Ministry of Finance & States/ UTs.
The GST Council inter alia made the following recommendations relating to changes in GST tax rates, measures for facilitation of trade and measures for streamlining compliances in GST.
i. Changes in GST rates of goods
ii. A uniform rate of 5% IGST will apply to imports of ‘Parts, components, testing equipment, tools and tool-kits of aircrafts, irrespective of their HS classification to provide a fillip to MRO activities subject to specified conditions.
iii. All milk cans (of steel, iron and aluminum) irrespective of their use will attract 12% GST.
iv. GST rate on ‘carton, boxes and cases of both corrugated and non-corrugated paper or paper-board’ (HS 4819 10; 4819 20) to be reduced from 18% to 12%.
v. All solar cookers whether single or dual energy source, will attract 12% GST.
vi. To amend existing entry covering Poultry keeping Machinery attracting 12% GST to specifically incorporate “parts of Poultry keeping Machinery” and to regularize past practice on ‘as is where is’ basis in view of genuine interpretational issues.
vii. To clarify that all types of sprinklers including fire water sprinklers will attract 12% GST and to regularise the past practice on ‘as is where is’ basis in view of genuine interpretational issues.
viii. To extend IGST exemption on imports of specified items for defence forces for a further period of five years till 30th June, 2029.
ix. To extend IGST exemption on imports of research equipment/buoys imported under the Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) programme subject to specified conditions.
x. To exempt Compensation Cess on the imports in SEZ by SEZ Unit/developers for authorised operations w.e.f. 01.07.2017.
9. Other Miscellaneous Changes
i. To exempt Compensation cess on supply of aerated beverages and energy drinks to authorised customers by Unit Run Canteens under Ministry of Defence.
ii. To provide Adhoc IGST exemption on imports of technical documentation for AK-203 rifle kits imported for Indian Defence forces.
iii. Recommendations relating to GST rates on services
iv. To exempt the services provided by Indian Railways to general public, namely, sale of platform tickets, facility of retiring rooms/waiting rooms, cloak room services and battery-operated car services and to also exempt the Intra-Railway transactions. The issue for the past period will be regularized from 20.10.2023 to the date of issue of exemption notification in this regard.
v. To exempt GST on the services provided by Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to Indian Railway by way of allowing Indian Railway to use infrastructure built & owned by SPV during the concession period and maintenance services supplied by Indian Railways to SPV. The issue for the past will be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis for the period from 01.07.2017 till the date of issue of exemption notification in this regard.
vi. To create a separate entry in notification No. 12/2017- CTR 28.06.2017 under heading 9963 to exempt accommodation services having value of supply of accommodation up to Rs. 20,000/- per month per person subject to the condition that the accommodation service is supplied for a minimum continuous period of 90 days. To extend similar benefit for past cases.
11. Other changes relating to Services
i. Co-insurance premium apportioned by lead insurer to the co-insurer for the supply of insurance service by lead and co-insurer to the insured in coinsurance agreements, may be declared as no supply under Schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017 and past cases may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis.
ii. Transaction of ceding commission/re-insurance commission between insurer and re-insurer may be declared as no supply under Schedule III of CGST Act, 2017 and past cases may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis.
iii. GST liability on reinsurance services of specified insurance schemes covered by Sr. Nos. 35 & 36 of notification No. 12/2017-CT (Rate) dated 28.06.2017 may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis for the period from 01.07.2017 to 24.01.2018.
iv. GST liability on reinsurance services of the insurance schemes for which total premium is paid by the Government that are covered under Sr. No. 40 of notification No. 12/2017-CTR dated 28.06.2017 may be regularized on ‘as is where is’ basis for the period from 01.07.2017 to 26.07.2018.
v. To issue clarification that retrocession is ‘re-insurance of re-insurance’ and therefore, eligible for the exemption under Sl. No. 36A of the notification No. 12/2017-CTR dated 28.06.2017.
vi. To issue clarification that statutory collections made by Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) are exempt from GST as they fall within the scope of entry 4 of No.12/2017-CTR dated 28.06.2017.
vii. To issue clarification that further sharing of the incentive by acquiring bank with other stakeholders, where the sharing of such incentive is clearly defined under Incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low value BHIM-UPI transactions and is decided in the proportion and manner by NPCI in consultation with the participating banks is not taxable.
viii. Measures for facilitation of trade:
ix. Insertion of Section 128A in CGST Act, to provide for conditional waiver of interest or penalty or both, relating to demands raised under Section 73, for FY 2017-18 to FY 2019-20 : Considering the difficulties faced by the taxpayers, during the initial years of implementation of GST, the GST Council recommended, waiving interest and penalties for demand notices issued under Section 73 of the CGST Act for the fiscal years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, in cases where the taxpayer pays the full amount of tax demanded in the notice upto 31.03.2025. The waiver does not cover demand of erroneous refunds. To implement this, the GST Council has recommended insertion of Section 128A in CGST Act, 2017.
x. Reduction of Government Litigation by Fixing monetary limits for filing appeals under GST: The Council recommended to prescribe monetary limits, subject to certain exclusions, for filing of appeals in GST by the department before GST Appellate Tribunal, High Court, and Supreme Court, to reduce government litigation. The following monetary limits have been recommended by the Council:
GSTAT: Rs. 20 lakhs
High Court: Rs. 1 crore
Supreme Court: Rs. 2 crores
A. Amendment in Section 107 and Section 112 of CGST Act for reducing the amount of pre-deposit required to be paid for filing of appeals under GST: The GST Council recommended reducing the amount of pre-deposit for filing of appeals under GST to ease cash flow and working capital blockage for the taxpayers. The maximum amount for filing appeal with the appellate authority has been reduced from Rs. 25 crores CGST and Rs. 25 crores SGST to Rs. 20 crores CGST and Rs. 20 crores SGST. Further, the amount of pre-deposit for filing appeal with the Appellate Tribunal has been reduced from 20% with a maximum amount of Rs. 50 crores CGST and Rs. 50 crores SGST to 10 % with a maximum of Rs. 20 crores CGST and Rs. 20 crores SGST.
B. Applicability of Goods and Services Tax on Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) Taxation of ENA under GST: The GST Council, in its 52nd meeting, had recommended to amend GST Law to explicitly exclude rectified spirit/Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) from the scope of GST when supplied for manufacturing alcoholic liquors for human consumption. The GST Council now recommended amendment in sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the CGST Act, 2017 for not levying GST on Extra Neutral Alcohol used for manufacture of alcoholic liquor for human consumption.
C. Reduction in rate of TCS to be collected by the ECOs for supplies being made through them: Electronic Commerce Operators (ECOs) are required to collect. Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on net taxable supplies under Section 52(1) of the CGST Act. The GST Council has recommended to reduce the TCS rate from present 1% (0.5% CGST + 0.5% SGST/ UTGST, or 1% IGST) to 0.5 % (0.25% CGST + 0.25% SGST/UTGST, or 0.5% IGST), to ease the financial burden on the suppliers making supplies through such ECOs.
D. Time for filing appeals in GST Appellate Tribunal: The GST Council recommended amending Section 112 of the CGST Act, 2017 to allow the three-month period for filing appeals before the Appellate Tribunal to start from a date to be notified by the Government in respect of appeal/ revision orders passed before the date of said notification. This will give sufficient time to the taxpayers to file appeal before the Appellate Tribunal in the pending cases.
E. Relaxation in condition of section 16(4) of the CGST Act:
a) In respect of initial years of implementation of GST, i.e., financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21:
The GST Council recommended that the time limit to avail input tax credit in respect of any invoice or debit note under Section 16(4) of CGST Act, through any return in FORM GSTR 3B filed upto 30.11.2021 for the financial years 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21, may be deemed to be 30.11.2021. For the same, requisite amendment in section 16(4) of CGST Act, retrospectively, w.e.f. 01.07.2017, has been recommended by the Council.
b) with respect to cases where returns have been filed after revocation:
The GST Council recommended retrospective amendment in Section 16(4) of CGST Act, to be made effective from July 1 , 2017, to conditionally relax the provisions of section 16(4) of CGST Act in cases where returns for the period from the date of cancellation of registration/ effective date of cancellation of registration till the date of revocation of cancellation of the registration, are filed by the registered person within thirty days of the order of revocation.
F. Change in due date for filing of return in FORM GSTR-4 for composition taxpayers from 30 April to 30 June: The GST Council recommended an amendment in clause (ii) of sub-rule (1) of Rule 62 of CGST Rules, 2017 and FORM GSTR-4 to extend the due date for filing of return in FORM GSTR-4 for composition taxpayers from 30 April to 30 June following the end of the financial year. This will apply for returns for the financial year 2024-25 onwards. The same would give more time to the taxpayers who opt to pay tax under composition levy to furnish the said return.
G. Amendment of Rule 88B of CGST Rules, 2017 in respect of interest under Section 50 of CGST Act on delayed filing of returns, in cases where the credit is available in Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) on the due date of filing the said return: The GST Council recommended amendment in rule 88B of CGST Rules to provide that an amount, which is available in the Electronic Cash Ledger on the due date of filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B, and is debited while filing the said return, shall not be included while calculating interest under section 50 of the CGST Act in respect of delayed filing of the said return.
H. Insertion of Section 11A in CGST Act for granting power not to recover duties not levied or short-levied as a result of general practice under GST Acts:
The GST Council recommended inserting a new Section 11A in CGST Act to give powers to the Government, on the recommendations of the Council, to allow regularization of non-levy or short levy of GST, where tax was being short paid or not paid due to common trade practices.
I. Refund of additional Integrated Tax (IGST) paid on account of upward revision in price of the goods subsequent to export: The GST Council recommended to prescribe a mechanism for claiming refund of additional IGST paid on account of upward revision in price of the goods subsequent to their export. This will facilitate a large number of taxpayers, who are required to pay additional IGST on account of upward revision in price of the goods subsequent to export, in claiming refund of such additional IGST.
j. Clarification regarding valuation of supply of import of services by a related person where recipient is eligible to full input tax credit: The Council recommended to clarify that in cases where the foreign affiliate is providing certain services to the related domestic entity, for which full input tax credit is available to the said related domestic entity, the value of such supply of services declared in the invoice by the said related domestic entity may be deemed as open market value in terms of second proviso to rule 28(1) of CGST Rules. Further, in cases where full input tax credit is available to the recipient, if the invoice is not issued by the related domestic entity with respect to any service provided by the foreign affiliate to it, the value of such services may be deemed to be declared as Nil, and may be deemed as open market value in terms of second proviso to rule 28(1) of CGST Rules.
K. Clarification regarding availability of Input Tax Credit (ITC) on ducts and manholes used in the network of Optical Fiber Cables (OFCs): The Council recommended to clarify that input tax credit is not restricted in respect of ducts and manhole used in network of optical fiber cables (OFCs), under clause (c) or under clause (d) of sub-section (5) of section 17 of CGST Act.
L. Clarification on the place of supply applicable for custodial services provided by banks: The Council recommended to clarify that place of supply of Custodial services supplied by Indian Banks to Foreign Portfolio Investors is determinable as per Section 13(2) of the IGST Act, 2017.
M. Clarification on valuation of corporate guarantee provided between related persons after insertion of Rule 28(2) of CGST Rules, 2017: GST Council recommended amendment of rule 28(2) of CGST Rules retrospectively with effect from 26.10.2023 and issuance of a circular to clarify various issues regarding valuation of services of providing corporate guarantees between related parties. It is inter alia being clarified that valuation under rule 28(2) of CGST Rules would not be applicable in case of export of such services and also where the recipient is eligible for full input tax credit.
N. Clarification regarding applicability of provisions of Section 16 (4) of CGST Act, 2017, in respect of invoices issued by the recipient under Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM): The Council recommended to clarify that in cases of supplies received from unregistered suppliers, where tax has to be paid by the recipient under reverse charge mechanism (RCM) and invoice is to be issued by the recipient only, the relevant financial year for calculation of time limit for availment of input tax credit under the provisions of section 16(4) of CGST Act is the financial year in which the invoice has been issued by the recipient.
O. Clarification on following issues to provide clarity to trade and tax officers and to reduce litigation:
i. Clarification on taxability of re-imbursement of securities/shares as ESOP/ESPP/RSU provided by a company to its employees
ii. Clarification on requirement of reversal of input tax credit in respect of amount of premium in Life Insurance services, which is not included in the taxable value as per Rule 32(4) of CGST Rules.
iii. Clarification on taxability of wreck and salvage values in motor insurance claims
iv. Clarification in respect of Warranty/ Extended Warranty provided by Manufacturers to the end customers
v. Clarification regarding availability of input tax credit on repair expenses incurred by the insurance companies in case of reimbursement mode of settlement of motor vehicle insurance claims.
vi. Clarification on taxability of loans granted between related person or between group companies.
vii. Clarification on time of supply on Annuity Payments under HAM Projects.
viii. Clarification regarding time of supply in respect of allotment of Spectrum to Telecom companies in cases where payment of licence fee and Spectrum usage charges is to be made in instalments.
ix. Clarification relating to place of supply of goods supplied to unregistered persons, where delivery address is different from the billing address
x. Clarification on mechanism for providing evidence by the suppliers for compliance of the conditions of Section 15(3)(b)(ii) of CGST Act, 2017 in respect of post-sale discounts, to the effect that input tax credit has been reversed by the recipient on the said amount.
xi. Clarifications on various issues pertaining to special procedure for the manufacturers of the specified commodities, like pan masala, tobacco etc.
xii. The Council recommended amendment in section 140(7) of CGST Act retrospectively w.e.f. 01.07.2017 to provide for transitional credit in respect of invoices pertaining to services provided before appointed date, and where invoices were received by Input Service Distributor (ISD) before the appointed date.
xiii. The Council recommended providing a new optional facility by way of FORM GSTR-1A to facilitate the taxpayers to amend the details in FORM GSTR-1 for a tax period and/ or to declare additional details, if any, before filing of return in FORM GSTR-3B for the said tax period. This will facilitate taxpayer to add any particulars of supply of the current tax period missed out in reporting in FORM GSTR-1 of the said tax period or to amend any particulars already declared in FORM GSTR-1 of the current tax period (including those declared in IFF, for the first and second months of a quarter, if any, for quarterly taxpayers), to ensure that correct liability is auto-populated in FORM GSTR-3B.
xiv. The Council recommended that filing of annual return in FORM GSTR-9/9A for the FY 2023-24 may be exempted for taxpayers having aggregate annual turnover upto two crore rupees.
xv. Amendment was recommended to be made in section 122(1B) of CGST Act retrospectively w.e.f. 01.10.2023, so as to clarify that the said penal provision is applicable only for those e-commerce operators, who are required to collect tax under section 52 of CGST Act, and not for other e-commerce operators.
xvi. The Council recommended amendment in rule 142 of CGST Rules and issuance of a circular to prescribe a mechanism for adjustment of an amount paid in respect of a demand through FORM GST DRC-03 against the amount to be paid as pre-deposit for filing appeal.
12. Other measures pertaining to Law and Procedures
- Rolling out of bio-metric based Aadhaar authentication on All-India basis: The GST Council recommended to roll-out the biometric-based Aadhaar authentication of registration applicants on pan-India basis in a phased manner. This will strengthen the registration process in GST and will help in combating fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) claims made through fake invoices.
- Amendments in Section 73 and Section 74 of CGST Act, 2017 and insertion of a new Section 74A in CGST Act, to provide for common time limit for issuance of demand notices and orders irrespective of whether case involves fraud, suppression, willful misstatement etc., or not: Presently, there is a different time limit for issuing demand notices and demand orders, in cases where charges of fraud, suppression, willful misstatement etc., are not involved, and in cases where those charges are involved. In order to simplify the implementation of those provisions, the GST Council recommended to provide for a common time limit for issuance of demand notices and orders in respect of demands for FY 2024-25 onwards, in cases involving charges of fraud or willful misstatement and not involving the charges of fraud or willful misstatement etc. Also, the time limit for the taxpayers to avail the benefit of reduced penalty, by paying the tax demanded along with interest, has been recommended to be increased from 30 days to 60 days.
- The Council recommended amendment in section 171 and section 109 of CGST Act, 2017 to provide a sunset clause for anti-profiteering under GST and to provide for handling of anti-profiteering cases by Principal bench of GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT). Council has also recommended the sun-set date of 01.04.2025 for receipt of any new application regarding anti-profiteering.
- Amendment in Section 16 of IGST Act and section 54 of CGST Act to curtail refund of IGST in cases where export duty is payable: The Council recommended amendments in section 16 of IGST Act and section 54 of CGST Act to provide that the refund in respect of goods, which are subjected to export duty, is restricted, irrespective of whether the said goods are exported without payment of taxes or with payment of taxes, and such restrictions should also be applicable, if such goods are supplied to a SEZ developer or a SEZ unit for authorized operations.
- The threshold for reporting of B2C inter-State supplies invoice-wise in Table 5 of FORM GSTR-1 was recommended to be reduced from Rs 2.5 Lakh to Rs 1 Lakh.
- The Council recommended that return in FORM GSTR-7, to be filed by the registered persons who are required to deduct tax at source under section 51 of CGST Act, is to be filed every month irrespective of whether any tax has been deducted during the said month or not. It has also been recommended that no late fee may be payable for delayed filing of Nil FORM GSTR-7 return. Further, it has been recommended that invoice-wise details may be required to be furnished in the said FORM GSTR-7 return.
Rules for conduct of business in GST Council;
Timetable for implementation of GST;
The threshold limit for exemption from levy of GST is Rs. 20 lakhs for the States except for the Special Category States, as enumerated in Article 279A of the Constitution, for which it will be Rs 10 Lakhs);
The threshold for availing the Composition scheme is Rs. 75 lakhs. Service providers and some others would be kept out of the Composition Scheme
To compensate States for 5 years for loss of revenue due to implementation of GST, the base year for the revenue of the State would be 2015-16 and a fixed growth rate of 14% will be applied to it. For the purpose of calculating the compensation amount payable in any financial year during the transition period, the financial year ending the 31st March, 2016 will shall be taken as the base year.
Approval of the Draft GST Rules on registration, payment, return, refund and invoice, valuation, input tax credit, composition and transitional provisions.
All entities exempted from payment of indirect tax under any existing tax incentive scheme would pay tax in the GST regime and the decision to continue with any incentive scheme shall be with the concerned State or Central government. In case, the State or Central Government decides to continue with any existing exemption/incentive scheme; it will be administered by way of a reimbursement mechanism.
Adoption of four slabs tax rate structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. In addition, there would be a category of exempt goods and further a cess would be levied on certain goods such as luxury cars, aerated drinks, pan masala and tobacco products, over and above the rate of 28% for payment of compensation to the states.
GST rates on 1211 items were approved at the 14th GST Council meeting held at Srinagar on 18th and 19th of May 2017. At the 15th GST Council meeting held at New Delhi on 3rd June 2017, tax rates on the remaining goods were approved. 22 states, and 2 Union Territories with Legislatures (Delhi and Puducherry) have already passed their respective State GST Bill in their State Assemblies. Issue of cross empowerment and administrative division of taxpayers between the States and Centre has been resolved.
The Central Goods and Services Tax bill, Integrated Goods and Services Tax bill, Union Territories (without legislature) Goods and Services Tax bill and Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) bill have been passed by the Lok Sabha on 29.03.2017 and by the Rajya Sabha on 06.04.2017.
Meetings and Decision Making: There are two parameters are followed to take decision of any GST matter.
1. Valid Meeting (Quorum of Meeting)
In order to take valid decision, there should be substantial number of members should be present in the meeting. The Article, 279A provides the one-half of the total members of the GST council constitute the Quorum of Meeting.
Total members in the GST council including Chairperson is 33. Quorum is 50%. Thus the presence of 17 members constitute valid meeting.
2. Valid Decision (Required Majority)
The Article, 279A, every decision of the GST Council shall be taken at a meeting by majority of the not less than three-fourth of the weighted votes of the members present and voting in accordance with the following manner.
The vote of the central givt. Shall have weightahe on one –third of the total vote cast
The votes of the all the state govts. Taken together shall have weightage of two-thirds of the total vote cast
Minimum 75% votes should be in favor to pass resolution
Members who remain abstained will not be considered in calculation of vote cast.
Dispute handling by the GST Council
The GST Council is also charged with the duty to create a mechanism with which the following
disputes would be settled –Disputes between the Central Government and the State Government of a State. The disputes between the Central Government and one or more States on one side and one or more States on the other side. Disputes between two or more States which occurred due to any recommendation of the GST Council or due to the implementation of the recommendation of the council
13. Secretariat and Administrative Support
- The GST Council is supported by a Secretariat which takes care of all the Secretariat work of the Council.
- The Secretary of the GST Council is nominated by the Central Government and is responsible for the running and secretarial work of the GST Council.
14. Role in GST Implementation
The GST Council plays a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth implementation and administration of the GST regime across India by:
- Ensuring that there is compliance to the GST laws by all the states and hence there is equal compliance across the states.
- Settling of disputes which may occur between states or between the central government and the states.
- Offering policy recommendations and changes whenever new challenges arise to ensure they are covered.
8. Officials under the GST Act
In the context of the GST regime, various officials are appointed to manage and regulate GST provisions. The said officers are endowed with special powers to facilitate the working of the GST regime.
9. Appointment of Officers
The Central and State Governments have the authority to appoint various officers under the GST Act. These appointments can include:
- Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners
- Principal Commissioners/Commissioners
- Additional Commissioners
- Joint Commissioners
- Deputy Commissioners
- Assistant Commissioners
- Other subordinate officers
10. Powers of Officers
The officers appointed under the GST Act are vested with various powers to ensure compliance and enforcement of the GST laws. These powers include:
- Inspection: GST officers have the power to conduct search and seizure operations at any place where stock is stored or business is carried out if the officers have reason to believe that the GST Act has been violated.
- Search and Seizure: It is legal for officers to conduct a search on the premises and take any goods, documents or books that would be relevant for the investigation or audit.
- Summon and Inquiry: An officer may compel the attendance of any person, the production of documents and may make inquiries for administrative or investigative purposes.
- Audit: Business entities’ records can be audited by the GST officers to determine the correct amount of taxes due and compliance with the GST laws.
- Power to Arrest: Some of the senior officers, for instance, the Commissioners, have the powers of arresting people that are believed to have committed offenses under the GST Act including tax fraud.
- Power to Detain and Release Goods and Conveyances: The officers can arrest and discharge goods and conveyances en-route if there are grounds to believe that the goods are being transported without documents.
- Power to Demand and Recover Tax: By virtue of the powers vested in them, officers can forward demand notices to the concerned businesses for the balance amount of GST, interest and penalties for underpayment or non-payment.
- Provisional Attachment: During the course of proceedings, officers can immediately provisionally attach the bank accounts of taxable persons for the protection of the interest of revenue.
- Power to Access Business Premises: The officers can go to any place of business of a registered person to inspect the books of accounts, documents, computers or any other material.
- Adjudicating Authorities: The officers up to the rank of an additional commissioner or equivalent work as the appellate authority for the GST Act. It empowers them to hear and determine any case on tax demand, penalties and any other matter.
- Appellate Authorities: The senior officers act as the appellate authorities for hearing the appeals against the orders framed by the adjudicating authorities.
Conclusion: The GST Council remains a pivotal entity in the governance of India’s GST framework. With its recommendatory powers, the Council continuously adapts GST policies to address emerging economic challenges and facilitate trade. The outcomes of the 53rd GST Council meeting, such as changes in GST rates and compliance guidelines, highlight the Council’s commitment to refining the GST system for better efficiency and effectiveness. As the Council progresses, it will continue to play a vital role in shaping the fiscal landscape of India, ensuring a balanced and unified approach to indirect taxation.
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