GST Rate Increased On Mobile Phones

At the GST Council meeting held on Saturday, it was decided to increase the tax rates on mobile phones and specified parts from 12 to 18 percent.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after the meeting addressed the media, wherein she said that the Council had also decided to provide relief to domestic maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, by slashing the rate to 5 percent with a full input tax credit (ITC) and change Point of Supply (PoS) for B2B MRO services to the location of recipient. At present, Indian MROs are paying 18 percent GST (Goods and Service Tax).

GST on handmade, machine-made matchsticks was rationalised to 12 percent.

Delayed GST payment to attract interest on net tax liability from 1 July.

The Council also decided to extend the deadline for filing of GSTR9, GSTR9C for the financial year 2018-19 to 30 June 2020 from 31 March.

Changes in GSTR-1:

• Filing for taxpayers with turnover of more than Rs 1.5 crore has to be completed before tenth of the following month
• Filing for those with turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore have to file before 13th of the following month
• GSTR-2A can be generated on 14th of the following month

Filing will be mandatory for taxpayers with over Rs 5 crore annual turnover from the current limit of Rs 2 crore.

Further, with regard to problems in the GST Network, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani assured the Council that all glitches will be streamlined by July 2020 and proposed overhauling of the system with a specific step-wise roadmap.

The proposal on tax ability of economic surplus of brand owners of alcohol for human consumption was deferred.