In the current GST regime, businesses need to register under Goods and Services tax if their annual turnover falls in the range of Rs. 20 lakh and above. But in today's 32nd GST Council meet chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, accompanied by his state counterparts, the threshold limit for GST registration has been increased to Rs. 40 lakh. This implies exemption limit for MSMEs has been raised to annual turnover of Rs 40 lakh.

For the GST rate on under-construction flats or houses, a committee has been formed and a consensus is yet to be achieved, says Jaitley. Currently, the GST is levied at 12% on payments made for under-construction houses or ready-to-move-in flats where the completion certificate has not been issued at the time of sale.

Also, in the flood-hit Kerala state, the Council has allowed levy of upto 1% cess on intrastate sales for two years

The GST composition limit for services is now set at Rs 50 lakh, says FM Arun Jaitley. The composition scheme limit has been hiked from Rs 1.50 crore.

In the previous meet on December 22, the Council rationalized 28% rate with reduction in GST rate on some 23 items. Further in the meet today, more relief for the small traders is on the anvil.

Goodreturns.in