The GST Council in its meeting headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley deferred the decision on tax rates on lotteries and real estate to 24 February. It has also extended the deadline for businesses to file sales returns for the month of January to 22 February.

Since the meeting took place over video conference today, the decision in regard to GST rate on under construction housing properties remained inconclusive as certain states wanted to be physically present for the meet. As a result, the agenda was postponed to discussed on Sunday.

While briefing the media after the GST Council meet, Jaitley said that due to rush for filing returns by business, the due date was extended to 22 February for all states except, Jammu and Kashmir, where the deadline is now 28 February. The due date to file GSTR-3B is usually 20 February.

It was expected that the GST would be reduced on under-construction houses to 5 percent and affordable houses to 3 percent from the current 12 and 8 percent respectively. In January, it was notified that a ministerial panel headed by Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was formed to study the problems in the real estate sector under the indirect tax regime and suggest remedial measures.